Saying of the Week......

“The loveliest faces are to be seen by moonlight, when one sees half with the eye and half with the fancy” Persian proverb

Caring vs. Uncaring

Caring vs. uncaring-Walter E. Williams
Posted: May 10, 20061:00 a.m. Eastern
© 2006 Creators Syndicate, Inc.
George Orwell admonished, "Sometimes the first duty of intelligent men is the restatement of the obvious." That's what I want to do – talk about the obvious, starting with the question: What human motivation leads to the most wonderful things getting done?
How about the charity and selflessness we've seen from people like Mother Teresa? What about the ceaseless and laudable work of organizations like the Red Cross, Habitat for Humanity and Salvation Army? What about the charitable donations of rich Americans, to use the silly phrase, who've given something back?
While the actions of these people and their organizations are laudable, results motivated by charity and selflessness pale in comparison to other motives behind getting good things done. Let's look at it.
In December 1999, Stephen Moore and Julian L. Simon wrote an article titled "The Greatest Century That Ever Was," published by the Washington, D.C.-based Cato Institute. In it they report: Over the course of the 20th century, life expectancy increased by 30 years; annual deaths from major killer diseases such as tuberculosis, polio, typhoid, whooping cough and pneumonia fell from 700 to fewer than 50 per 100,000 of the population; agricultural workers fell from 41 to 2.5 percent of the workforce; household auto ownership rose from one to 91 percent; household electrification rose from 8 to 99 percent; controlling for inflation, household assets rose from $6 trillion to $41 trillion between 1945 and 1998. These are but a few of the wonderful things that have occurred during the 20th century.
Returning to my initial question: What human motivation accounts for the accomplishment of these and many other wonderful things? The answer should be obvious. It was not accomplished by people's concern for others, but by people's concern for themselves. In other words, it's people seeking more for themselves that has produced a better life for all Americans.
Take a minor example. I think it's wonderful that Idaho potato farmers get up early in the morning to toil in the fields, which results in Walter Williams in Pennsylvania enjoying potatoes. Does anyone think they make that sacrifice because they care about me? They might hate me, but they make sure that I enjoy potatoes because they care about and want more things for themselves.
What about all those people who've invented and marketed machines that do everything from diagnosing illnesses to controlling air flight? Were they basically motivated by a concern for others, or were they mostly concerned with their own well-being?
One of the wonderful things about free markets is that the path to greater wealth comes not from looting, plundering and enslaving one's fellow man, as it has throughout most of human history, but by serving and pleasing him. Many of the wonderful achievements of the 20th century were the result of the pursuit of profits. Unfortunately, demagoguery has led to profits becoming a dirty word. Nonprofit is seen as more righteous, particularly when people pompously stand before us and declare, "We're a nonprofit organization."
Profit is cast in a poor light because people don't understand the role of profits. Profit is a payment to entrepreneurs just as wages are payments to labor, interest to capital and rent to land. In order to earn profits in free markets, entrepreneurs must identify and satisfy human wants in a way that economizes on society's scarce resources.
Here's a little test. Which entities produce greater consumer satisfaction: for-profit enterprises such as supermarkets, computer makers and clothing stores, or nonprofit entities such as public schools, post offices and motor vehicle departments? I'm guessing you'll answer the former. Their survival depends on pleasing ordinary people, as opposed to the latter, whose survival is not so strictly tied to pleasing people.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not arguing that self-interest and the free-market system produce perfect outcomes, but they're the closest we'll come to perfection here on Earth.
Dr. Walter E. Williams is the John M. Olin Distinguished Professor of Economics at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va.


Right on! For some reason ( most probably economic ignorance) a majority of people seem to think making a profit is a "dirty word". As Dr. Williams points out, who is more interested in keeping you happy, someone who wants to make money from you, or somone motivated for 'altruistic reasons'? I think his illustration makes it perfectly clear , and one trip to the Dept. of Motor Vehicles, (or any other government agency) is enough to make you WISH they had a profit motivation in their 'business'. I have said many times that if Walmart was run like the Dept. of Motor Vehicles they'd have gone out of business long ago. But this idea of enlightened self interest being at the heart of most of our success seems not to be being taught any more. Instead of so much of the "touchy-feely mush" or 'blame America first' that passes for education today, society would be better served by some plain old fashioned economics lessons. And throw in a little of that old fashioned ' readin', writin', and 'rithmetic' and we 'd be even better off.

Week 16 Rate the Class

If I understand this assignment correctly, we are to rate the class, good or bad, whatever we actually think.
Hmmm. Ok.......

Overall, I liked the class. I particularly liked the blogging format. I had not realized that I would enjoy blogging as much as I do. I would not have liked the more traditional 'print" form of journalism nearly so much. I think blogging plays more to my interests than regular journalism would have.

I would have a suggestion though. It might work better, and keep people from sliding behind, if assignments were given out on a particular day, and always due the next week by a particular day. Some online courses follow that format, and it makes it easier to keep track of assignments, eg, my new writing asssignments come out on Tues morning, and they are always due before 11:59 pm on the following Monday. If it isn't done by then, there is a consequence to suffer. Plus that way I always know exactly how many days until the next assignment is due without having to check. Another thing that might be worthy of consideration, in my online courses we MUST read and comment on our classmate's work. Each week. It is an incentive to finish my work in a timely mannner, because I know my classmates will be checking it out. And it is interesting to see how other people may approach an assignment very differently from the way I did.

Other than that, I liked the course. Thanks for all your work trying to turn us into aspiring journalists. : )

Bye, and good luck to all of us!

Week 16- Utica OD Post

http://www.uticaod.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060502/NEWS/605020324/1001/news

Assembly Cancels Session in Solidarity with Immigrants

Two dozen of our illustrious state lawmakers, as if they don't already work very little ( they work fewer days but are paid much more than most other state legislators) have walked out of the state legislature "in support of the immigrant's rights demonstrations" across the country.

What? What are these Democrats thinking? What 'immigrant rights'?

Frankly, it is outrageous that lawMAKERS would be supporting lawBREAKERS!! This whole "immigrant rights" issue is a just smokescreen. It would be as if there were 12 million people who had broken any other particular law complaining that they were being labelled criminals and wanting special "rights". These ILLEGAL immigrants are CRIMINALS, and should be dealt with as such. What part of 'breaking the law makes you a criminal 'don't they understand?

Week 16-Personal Opinion Post

http://www.newsday.com/news/health/ny-adcova4724682may01,0,6387957.story?coll=ny-health-print

Is your kid indigo?Proponents of the theory say creative, hard-to-manage kids are more highly evolved than the rest of us. Critics doubt it.

I'll give you the information "in a nutshell":


"According to parents who believe, however, up to 90 percent of children younger than 10 may be indigo, sharing the characteristics of not only being more spiritual and intuitive than their forebears, but also more creative and free-thinking. According to Carroll and Tober, indigos have a strong sense of self and are often impulsive, refusing to play by society's rules - a situation that often results in being mislabeled as having ADD or ADHD, attention deficit hyperactive disorder.The common link among all indigo children, advocates say - part and parcel of the New Age belief that society is evolving toward a better, brighter future - is that they've come to push humanity toward greater authenticity and world peace by challenging adults' rules and the usual societal conventions. "

All you really need to know is that according to this article, these are the traits that "indigo children" are believed to exhibit.

1. They come into the world with a feeling of royalty (and often act like it).
2. They have a feeling of "deserving to be here," and are surprised when others don't share that
.3. Self-worth is not a big issue. They often tell parents "who they are."
4. They have difficulty with absolute authority.
5. They will simply not do certain things; for example, waiting in line is difficult for them.
6. They get frustrated with systems that are ritual-oriented and don't require creative thought.
7. They often see better ways of doing things, both at home and in school, which makes them seem like "system busters."
8. They seem antisocial unless they are with their own kind. If there are no others of like consciousness around them, they turn inward, feeling like no other human understands them. School is often extremely difficult for them socially.
9. They will not respond to "guilt" discipline ("Wait till your father gets home.").
10. They are not shy in letting you know what they need.


We've all met these children. We just didn't know they were called "Indigo Children". Most of us just knew them as BRATS.

These are the same smarmy, "wise" kids we've all either had in a class with us or had to sit next to at some public place. They usually are "bouncing off the walls" while their parents sit there with an adoring expression watching their child go crazy as everyone else in the room wonders what kind of a nutcase lets their child act like this. They've been everywhere, done everything, and know everything under the sun. They think they really are the center of the universe and seem to be totally astonished and genuinely hurt to discover that no one other than their parents and themself think that they are anything particularly special.
The parents of these children all seem to have one thing in common, they either can't, or won't, control their children. By asserting their child is "special" and that the usual rules of behaviour don't apply to them, they can justify their abdication of parental authority. There may indeed be some sort of "social evolution" happening with them, but it is "evolving " downwards, not upwards.

Week 16-English Language Foreign Newspaper Post

"Be on the Lookout for"......

http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=29&art_id=iol114605945591A555
This interesting tidbit came by way of a South African newspaper, and although it happened in England, it has a certain charm for all of us......


London- A man on a horse and cart escaped four cops' motorbikes, a patrol car, a video van, two cycling constables and a helicopter.The combined efforts of modern policing were beaten in a low speed chase through Leeds, reports the Guardian.The 34-year-old man, who has not been named but is wanted for serious assault, was first spotted by a police cycle patrol.The suspect jumped on to a cart with a friend and trotted off - followed eventually by a convoy of police vehicles.Locals in Chapel Allerton described "a bizarre procession" along a dual carriageway, with the horse and cart weaving to frustrate its pursuers.West Yorkshire cops said that officers had got as close as they could but were anxious not to frighten the horse.The Steptoe-like scene ended in a side street, where the wanted man jumped off the cart and ran down a back alley.The second man was surrounded by police after he reined in the horse but the wanted man is still missing. - Ananova.com

Week 16- Saying of the Week

I never met a chocolate I didn't like. ~ Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis) in Star Trek: The Next Generation

Week 15 English Language Foreign Newspaper Post

http://www.bangkokpost.net/News/23Apr2006_news01.php

NO LEGS, NO BARRIERStill behind wheel, despite disabilityStory and photo by WASSAYOS NGAMKHAM
Truck driver Chaliew Sonklin, 48, who lost his legs in a road accident, still drives the vehicle, which is modified to be "disabled-friendly." — Wassayos Ngamkham
Chaliew Sonklin has beaten more odds than he can remember in his life since he lost both legs in an accident and been forced to drive his 10-wheel lorry without them.
Being without legs has not held back the indomitable spirit of the 48-year-old Chaliew, now a struggling single parent, who also fixes his own truck. He climbs on a ladder to make repairs to the front
of his truck after it was dented in a recent accident, his first in more than 20 years of driving. He turns heads almost every time he gets out of the truck.
Passersby are baffled by the physical irony of a man steering a truck who is missing limbs most of us normally consider necessary to drive.
Mr Chaliew's life is no picnic. Since 21, he has driven trucks for a living, delivering top soil to and from construction sites.
Tragedy struck when he was 36 years old. He fell asleep behind the wheel on the Chaiyaphum-Khon Kaen highway and collided head-on with another truck. He woke up from surgery a week later to find his legs had been amputated from severe injuries.
''The first thought that raced through my mind was how I could work to feed my child,'' Mr Chaliew said of his 13-year-old son, Kachorn, by his first wife who died.
With accident insurance money he claimed from the Social Security Fund, he opened an auto repair shop in Khon Kaen. He hired people with mechanical experience while he supervised the service.
At the time, he had a new, much younger wife who helped expand the business. Mr Chaliew could now afford a down payment for two more trucks which he also used to transport soil.
The trucks, however, were in the name of the second wife who later left him. Mr Chaliew was in financial dire straits and he could not trade the trucks in for cash. The garage was also in decline as the mechanics swindled him.
The reversal of fortune forced Mr Chaliew to go back to driving the trucks in 1993. He paid to have one of his trucks modified to be ''disabled-friendly.'' Long steel rods are fixed inside so he can manipulate the clutch, brake and acceleration pedals using his knees. For a firmer brake, he sometimes applies pressure from the hand as well.
It took him several days to master the new driving apparatus. At the same time, his garage went under and he sold everything except the modified truck.
He managed to sell one of the trucks. The other he kept for making a living.
Hounded by debt collectors from the finance company for defaulting on his truck payments, he decided to move from Khon Kaen to Songkhla in the South, taking with him his son and the daughter Chuthmanee, 4, by his second wife.
Life on the road meant young Kachorn could not attend school. He can barely read or write.
After a year, he and his family headed to Phetchaburi where he found a buyer for his truck. The buyer paid off instalments with the finance firm and Mr Chaliew was left with 300,000 baht from the sale.
He put a down payment for his present truck with a 11,000 baht monthly instalment for 48 months. Mr Chaliew now settled in Bang Sai district of Ayutthaya and has less than 50,000 baht to his name.
Living in a small rented room with his children, Mr Chaliew said he is saving money for his daughter's education. He says that with his disability, he is afraid to look ahead and anticipate the future. ''Hope doesn't take me far,'' he said.
He said one of his biggest impediments is the law which prohibits people who lost both legs from driving. He is often stopped by police who asked for the driver's licence he will never possess. Sometimes, police let him go out of pity. Other times, he needs to ''pay his way.''
Traffic police commander Panu Kerdlarppol said the law permits disabled people without one leg to drive, but not both. With one leg, the driver may opt for a vehicle with automatic transmission. However, he said the issue may be open to legal interpretation.
Kachorn said his father is a role model. ''People should see him. He has no legs, but sticks to an honest job.'' Mr Chaliew has declined charity although he would like help for his children's education.

This man certainly seems ambitious, but I was surprised to get almost to the end of the article to discover that he is driving illegally. It is interesting too that he "declines charity". Many people here would not only expect charity from private and government sources as their right, but then complain that they weren't getting enough!

Week 15- Who're Really the 'Intolerant'?

http://jewishworldreview.com/david/limbaugh042106.php3
Campus heterophobia
By David Limbaugh

http://www.JewishWorldReview.com Does anybody really think homosexual activists aren't trying to push their lifestyle on America — as opposed to merely striving to avoid discrimination? A few recent news items shed some light on the subject.
Scott Savage, a librarian at Ohio State University at Mansfield, got a quick lesson in "tolerance" while serving on a committee responsible for selecting books for incoming OSU students to read as part of their "First Year Reading Experience."
Savage, a devout Quaker, recommended that a number of conservative-oriented books be added to the list, to balance other books on the list, many of which reportedly had a liberal slant.
Savage recommended four books, "The Marketing of Evil," by David Kupelian, "The Professors," by David Horowitz, "Eurabia: the Euro-Arab Axis," by Bat Ye'or, and "It Takes a Family," by Sen. Rick Santorum. How dare he? Won't he ever learn the proper lessons of selective censorship? The school had earlier investigated him for recommending other forbidden conservative books to freshmen students.
But I guess the request to place these dread screeds on a formal school list was just way too rebellious for anyone employed by an institution of higher learning priding itself in maintaining an environment of academic freedom and open inquiry. Three professors strenuously objected to Savage's suggestions, describing the Kupelian book as "hate literature," and "homophobic tripe." The professors, two of whom are homosexual, said the inclusion of these books on the list made them feel threatened and unsafe on campus.
Now get this — if you haven't already heard: The faculty voted to support the professors' claims and the school began an investigation against Savage for sexual harassment.
Sexual harassment? We are talking about book recommendations here, not words or action against specific individuals. This complaint, on its face, was offensively absurd. You can't have sexual harassment without a victim — without some form of mistreatment of specific individuals.
The homosexual community is the first to cry intolerance at the slightest perceived indignity, yet these professors refused to tolerate the innocuous recommendation of a few books whose message they apparently don't agree with. They not only sought to suppress opposing ideas, but conspired to punish a man trying to present those ideas.
You have to be a semantic contortionist not to realize that any intolerance or hate speech involved in this episode emanated from the professors and their supporting faculty. Then again, conservative thought is obviously not entitled to the same degree of protection, if any, and anti-conservative propaganda is promoted in much of liberal academia. We can only imagine what goes on in these professors' classrooms that we don't hear about.
What these professors, then the faculty and school, did to Mr. Savage comes much closer to harassment than what he did to the professors, which was absolutely nothing. Apparently someone at the school finally figured that out because the malicious and frivolous charges against Savage were dropped.
But Savage's attorney, David French, said that merely dropping the complaint doesn't repair the damage to his client's reputation and career. He is considering litigation.
I think he should seriously consider going forward with litigation against the people and institutions involved. Radical homosexual groups routinely characterize the utterance of opposing opinions — just as in this incident — as hate speech and seek to ban it. They frequently seek to have the expression of opinions running counter to their dogma, branded as harassment or bullying, to make it easier to stigmatize those daring to disagree. Well, in this case — if the allegations are true — the professors appear to be guilty of that which they were accusing Savage: harassment.
You have to be naive not to recognize that the radical homosexual lobby is pushing its lifestyle on American society and using intimidation tactics, such as we see here, to compel society's acceptance of homosexual behavior as mainstream or normal. They say they just want to live and let live, but many of them want far more than that. They want to live free of harassment themselves, which I'm all for, but it doesn't appear they want to accord similar respect to those not sharing their views.
If anyone doubts the aggressive intentions of the radical homosexual lobby, he should read the recent news report about a second-grade school teacher in Massachusetts reading to her class a fantasy book about two princes getting married. Objecting parents can't even opt out their children from these experiences because same-sex marriage has been decreed legal by the high priests of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. Here we see what radical homosexual activism fueled by radical judicial activism has wrought.
It's difficult to understand how there can be so much apathy as we witness such ongoing assaults on our culture.

The "politically correct thought police" seem to be alive and well on the campus of Ohio State. The most effective way to silence a dissenting point of view lately seems to be to charge the dissenter with some form of "harassment". I sincerely hope that Mr. Savage can and does pursue legal redress for this whole incident, and that he eventually triumphs in court. This college seems to give lip service to 'free academic expression" only when it concerns trendy liberal views, as far as they seem to be concerned, people who want to express a more conservative viewpoint had better "step to the back of the bus"

Week 15-Utica OD " I don't think we'll ever recover...."

'I don't think we'll ever fully recover'
Saturday, Apr 22, 2006Cassaundra Baber Observer-Dispatch
WEST WINFIELD — One question resounded among grieving residents one day after the community lost three high school seniors to a car accident.
"I don't know why it had to happen here," said 14-year-old Grace Riker after attending a grief counseling session at Mount Markham High School.
As she shared a pepperoni pizza with her father, Ken, Grace talked about her field hockey teammate Jessica Dupres. Grace remembered how Dupres' support got her through an especially difficult sectional game.
"I remember her tapping my shoulder and saying, 'Chin up, chin up, we're going to win this,'" Grace said. "Every game she was like that. I was only a freshman. She was like a role model to me. I still can't believe she's gone."
The death of Dupres, Benjamin Stickles and Lynda Light is not the first such tragedy the rural community has had to cope with recently. Justin R. Williams, 20, a 2004 Mount Markham graduate and sophomore Christopher C. Pollard, 15, died Feb. 11, 2005, when the car they were riding in collided with a tractor trailer on Route 8.
"Certainly, the death of children is a horrible experience to go through, and I don't think you ever fully recover from it," said school district Superintendent Casey Barduhn. "And to have it happen again ... I don't think we'll ever fully recover."
Beyond the grief, the question of recovery — how, how long and when — will continue to haunt the community.
"These kids have had it so rough," said Judy Riker, Grace's mother. "We're just trying to be there to support our kids."
How to support, how much support and what kind of support has parents and youth leaders searching for answers.
"I don't know that anybody has the answers, and that's the danger," said Mike Bailey, a youth leader at Federated Church, where Stickles and Light were members of the youth group and Dupres was a member.
But, as they've proven before, the kids of West Winfield are amazingly resilient, Bailey said.
"A lot of times, we tend to think of (our kids) as kids and not people," he said. "You have to give them a chance to express their grief as they want to."
There already are signs some residents have created grief-managing mechanisms, he said. An anonymous griever laid a makeshift memorial against the tree on Saxon Road where the teens' car crashed. A white wooden cross scripted with red writing — R.I.P B.S., L.L., J.D. 4 20 06 — lay against the maple tree, which was embedded with shards of glass and stripped of several inches of its bark.
A candle and seven bunches of daffodils had been nestled around the roots of the tree, just inches beyond where tire tracks from the teens' vehicle marked the ground.
For Mount Markham freshmen Annalea Bucenec, 14, and Cori Ashley, 15, the deaths have made getting in a car a very different experience.
"We don't drive, but we ride with people, and it definitely makes us aware of what can happen," Ashley said.
But for others, the tragedy has made life a little more meaningful.
"Hug your kids and mean it," Judy Riker said through tears.


"I don't think we'll ever fully recover"? I would certainly agree that the families of the accident victims may never totally recover, but before the flowers have barely wilted the majority of their acquaintances will have pretty much managed to assuage their current grief, and within a scant few weeks they'll have managed to forget the whole incident. You think that sounds harsh? The girl quoted here seems not be too consumed by grief since as she is being interviewed she is eating a pizza! The school superintendent, Mr. Barduhl, said " "And to have it happen again ... I don't think we'll ever fully recover." , well, the fact that there was a crash just over a year ago that killed two students and now this most recent crash killing three serves to illustrate my point, that most of the people have so far recovered in so short a time as to not have learned anything from the previous tragedy. Had they really "never recovered" they would have wanted to learn whatever lessons could be learned from the last tragedy, and apply them so as to try their best to never have another incident like the first crash.

And the trite remark by a parent that "these kids have had it so rough" is so fatuous as to almost defy a response. It as if people think these accidents happen like some sort of a cosmic lottery, why do these kids 'have it so rough'? They lost their schoolmates because the schoolmates had an accident apparently because they were driving at a high rate of speed and lost control of their vehicle. That is a heartbreaking thing to have happened, but the fact that this has happened for the second time in just over a year says that the lessons to be learned from this tragic incident are not only not being learned by the students, but the parents haven't learned anything either.

Week 15-Saying of the Week

"Real integrity is doing the right thing, knowing that nobody's going to know whether you did it or not. " Oprah Winfrey

Week 15- Report on Jerry Waskiewicz

This is my own photo, I just thought an article on Mr. Waskiewicz should have some "eye candy".



Our journalism class was visited by award winning photographer Jerry Waskiewicz last week. Mr. Waskiewicz spoke to us about his long career in photography, and also brought along a number of examples of his work. One of my favorite pictures that he brought was an award winning one of an Adirondack forest scene ( a peaceful small stream running through snowy banks and flanked by snow draped trees). He said many people had asked him where he had taken it, and he had answered them "somewhere in the Adirondacks", but he revealed to us that he had taken it not far from his home, in a place only he knew of. He told us anyone can take a picture, but that we needed to see the world a little differently to make an eye catching photo. He also revealed some of the techniques he'd used to get some of the unusual shots that he had gotten. He told us that there is also a need for people who can write in the business of smaller newspaper journalism. I was surprised when he explained that you can make a decent living free lancing articles to smaller newspapers, and that once you get your "foot in the door" and demonstrate your skill, you would most likely receive more referrals. He also told us to be sure to retain ownership of our work, he often can sell the same photo more than once, which becomes a great way to maximize the time and effort involved in doing a photo shoot.

In short, Mr. Waskiewicz was very well informed, and had some very interesting things to tell us. It was very kind of him to take the time to come to talk with us and I thank him for coming.

Week 14-Utica OD

http://www.uticaod.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060416/NEWS/604160309/1001

Easter Every Day
Sunday, Apr 16, 2006
Virginia Alston of Utica tries to live every day as if it were Easter.
That means remembering Jesus Christ rose from the dead to live within her, she said.
"Wouldn't it be a beautiful world if we could live as if it were Easter and Christmas every day?" said Alston, who attends St. Paul's Baptist Church. "There's nothing like having Christ in your life."
Easter Sunday will be all about Christ for Alston.
She'll wake before dawn to attend the church's 6 a.m. sunrise service, where the Rev. Tenolian Bell will lead the congregation in worship and song.
By 7:30 a.m., she and her church family will come together for a breakfast of eggs, grits, sausage and coffee.
After breakfast, it's a lesson in Christ's resurrection for the parish children. Then, it's back to worship at another service, complete with sermon and song.
"The service is always very enlightening and spirit-filled, with a lot of love shown," she said.
Alston will break for a few hours to have dinner with her children and grandchildren before she returns to the church at 5 p.m. to watch the traditional Easter pageant.
Blending traditions
The Easter Bunny won't be stopping by the Nguyen family's house on Mary Street in Utica.
It's not because Bao, 14, Bachkim, 12, Bachyen, 9, Beachngoc, 8, and Pio, 1, haven't been on their best behavior. It's just that the Vietnamese Catholic family hasn't adopted that American tradition.
"In my country, it's very important, Easter," said Mai Nguyen, the children's mother. "We go to church. The church in Vietnam is fun."
Easter is a little different in America, where Mai immigrated from Vietnam in 1987 and met her husband three years later. Mai remembers the city streets in Vietnam overflowing with families playing games and shopping.
"In my country, if the (kids) have friends, they go with them to the zoo or the movie theater," Mai said.
On this day in Utica, the family won't celebrate exactly as they would in Vietnam. They will, however, focus on family and friends. They will attend Easter Mass at St. Francis de Sales Church on Elm Street, and Mai will prepare dinner for 15 friends and relatives.
Easter dinner will include American and Vietnamese dishes, including mashed potatoes, ham, egg rolls, pho noodles and fried rice.
Strangers will be friends
While most Americans are carving ham, hunting eggs and gorging themselves with chocolate bunnies, John Brown, a Greek Eastern Orthodox Christian, will observe an ordinary Sunday.
That doesn't mean he won't enjoy the festivities many Christians do. He'll just do it a week later.
On April 23, Brown and 14 to 25 family and friends of various faiths and ethnicities will crowd Brown's Eastwood Avenue home for Pascal, the Greek Easter.
"It's a religious holiday, however Greeks try to welcome all people. It's called filo xenia (which literally translates to friend to stranger) or hospitality," said Brown, a fifth-generation Greek. "It's all the things people should remember; it's the basis of Christianity and why Christ died for us."
Visitors to Brown's home will participate in all the Greek traditions: They'll eat lamb and sweet bread and Greek salad, they'll pray "Christos Anesti" ("Christ Has Risen") over the sweet bread and be a part of a ceremonial cutting of the bread.
"Even the poorest Greek houses will really conserve throughout the year so they have a bountiful feast on this highest of holy days," Brown said.
Lost traditions
More than 60 years ago, Polish Catholic Jackie Kula rose before dawn to attend Resurrection Mass.
She would dress all in white and carry a bouquet of lilies in a procession before Mass. After Mass, there was a breakfast of barsch — Easter soup, then back to church for a 10:30 a.m. Mass.
"There were always new Easter clothes and Easter bonnets," the 73-year-old Clinton resident remembered.
Kula tried to uphold these traditions with her own six children, and mostly did, she said. Church closings, coupled with a lesser emphasis on faith, made it difficult, though.
Today, Kula mourns the loss of tradition. Her children now are grown and have left the area.
"Even the traditions of the church are gone. ... So much of tradition is gone, and commercialism has taken over," she lamented.
This Easter, Kula still will prepare traditional Easter ham and kielbasa, and she'll attend the Saturday Vigil Mass at Sacred Heart of Jesus Church in New York Mills.
Special because of Christ
Every Easter, 35 to 40 members of the Ciotti family hold their breath and wait for the news — the winner of the best Easter sweet bread contest.
Last year, it was Jennifer Ciotti of Poland.
It's a coveted title, she said, as she laid a dishcloth over an aluminum bowl filled with dough she'll use to prepare this year's bread.
Ciotti can't reveal her special recipe — it's too risky.
"I have too much competition out there," she said.
And the race gets tighter each year.
"There was one year when an uncle entered two different breads and stole a (fellow contestant's) bread and entered it under his name," she said.
The celebration may be unorthodox, but the reason the family comes together is as old as bread.
"Our tradition wouldn't be special if it wasn't Easter," said Andre Ciotti, Jennifer's husband. "It may be special, but it's because of Easter that we do it. And it's because Christ is risen and come back to life that we celebrate Easter."

So many different traditions, but all similar in one respect, celebration of the true meaning of Easter. It was nice to read that these people acknowledge the real reason why we celebrate Easter, "Jesus is the Reason for the Season".

Week 14 An Empty Tomb; Real Shock and Awe

Something marvelous happened that Resurrection Day morning that passes most Christians right by. Jesus, who up to that point had fulfilled all the four spring Feasts of Israel, (and there are three Fall Feasts still for Him to fulfill) and fulfilled them on their correct day, ( probably the most well known is that he was crucified as our sacrifice on the same day that the lambs were sacrificed for Passover) fulfilled the Feast of First Fruits on the exact day that the rest of Israel would be bringing their first fruits to the temple. At First Fruits Israelites would bring a small sheaf, the first, the earliest part, of their harvest. First Fruits was the promise of the full harvest that would later come. Jesus was the literal first fruit of the 'resurrection harvest'. Not sure?

Matthew 27:51-5 "At once the curtain in the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and rocks split apart. Graves opened, and many of God's people were raised to life. They left their graves and after Jesus had risen to life, they went into the holy city,where they were seen by many people".

Those people mentioned here were the 'small sheaf' of first fruits that Jesus brought along with him, the promise of the greater harvest of the resurrection of the rest of the Believers on some future day.

Still not sure what to think? There was an inscription discovered near Jerusalem in the 20th century . I've read that it was unlike any other Roman inscription found anywhere else. Dated to the approximate time of Jesus, it said that it was Caesar's pleasure that graves remain undisturbed, and that a law, "violation of sepulchre' carried the death penalty for people found to have disturbed graves. Isn't that odd, that at about the time of Jesus rising from the dead (leaving an empty tomb) that the Romans thought it necessary to enact such a statute? Something extraordinary happened there. Think about it.

Jesus' resurrection was, for us, indeed, truly 'shock and awe'.
Happy Easter!

Another comment.....

Jesus wasn't a good teacher, great prophet, wonderful speaker, etc etc. as many say. He said
" If you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins", certainly something that no ordinary man can say. Jesus Himself claimed to be God on many occasions, so He was either a liar and blasphemer who deserved to die for saying such things, or He was exactly who He said He was, the Son of God who takes away the sin of the world. And if He is who He said He is, where do you stand with Him?

Week 14- Comment on the Resurrection

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/graham/263810_billy4-15.html
Saturday, April 15, 2006
Jesus most surely did die on the cross, for all of us
By DR. BILLY GRAHAM
DEAR DR. GRAHAM: A friend of mine says that Jesus didn't really die on the cross, but He was just drugged to make it look as if He was dead. Then He recovered in the coolness of the tomb and went on to live in secret with His disciples. I know this isn't the traditional view, but is it possible he's right? -- R.L.
DEAR R.L.: No, your friend is not right -- and that isn't just because Christians believe otherwise, but because what he's suggesting isn't logical.
Why is that? If you stop to think about it, you'll see why: Christ's death was witnessed by hundreds (if not thousands) of people. They saw the nails being hammered into His hands and feet, and they saw how the beatings and the loss of blood from His wounds weakened Him. They witnessed also His final seconds: "Jesus called out with a loud voice, 'Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.' When he had said this, he breathed his last" (Luke 23:46).
The Roman soldiers who crucified Jesus also had no doubt He was truly dead. As executioners, they were very familiar with death, and when they took Jesus' body down from the cross, they made sure He was not alive. They knew that if they failed to carry out the death penalty, they could be severely punished. Later, His body was tightly wrapped in strips of cloth, then laid in a guarded, cavelike tomb with a huge stone across the entrance.
Only one conclusion is possible: On that first Easter, Jesus Christ rose from the dead by the power of God. And because He did, you and I have hope of eternal life. Death and Hell and Satan have been defeated! Don't let anything keep you from Christ, but open your heart and life to Him today.
Contact the Rev. Billy Graham c/o Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, 1 Billy Graham Parkway, Charlotte, NC 28201, phone 877-247-2426, or see the Web site www.billygraham.org.

So much for the idea that Jesus only pretended to die on the cross.....
Crucifixion was known to be one of the most torturous gruesomely fatal ways to die. Once crucified, there is no escape from death. The first century AD Jewish historian Josephus, ( who, so to speak, worked for the Romans) discovered that a man he knew had just been crucified. He immediately went and asked for the life of the man, and permission was given for the man to be freed. Even though the man had not been on the cross very long, he still died from his ordeal despite being taken down.
It is not likely that someone who had been crucified, even if taken down in a timely fashion, would be able to be nursed back to health and that he would be in any condition to pretend to be a conquering Savior, much less inspire his friends to die for him.

Week 14-Foreign Newsaper Article

http://www.cphpost.dk/get/95042.html

As the nation closes up shop for the five-day Easter holiday, people are getting ready to celebrate with customs that are both universal and uniquely Danish

Danes share many of their Easter traditions with the rest of the Christian world, but certain customs - such as eating cabbage and celebrating with willow branches are unique to the country.
Easter eggs, bunny rabbits, legs of lamb, daffodils and lilies are among traditions Denmark shares with other countries celebrating the resurrection of Jesus.
But before kids and families get to dive into the goodies on Sunday, they have to dine on a meal of cabbage tomorrow evening and suffer through two days of being unable to do much but spend time with the family.
Tradition has it that eating vegetables on Holy Thursday was extra healthy. In days gone by, good housewives prepared a dish that called for seven types of cabbage. Whether the legend it true is unproven, but as winter drew to an end - and food stocks with it - cabbage may have been all that was left.
Holy Thursday in Denmark is called 'Clean Thursday' a reference to Jesus' washing of his disciples' feet. In the past people took the name more literally: hanging your clothes out to dry on that day was reputed to keep them free of moths and lice for the rest of the year.
Christians celebrate Jesus return to Jerusalem as the beginning of the Easter week. Palm Sunday takes its name from the cheering crowds who laid palm branches down before him as he rode into the city on a donkey.
Palm branches blessed during Palm Sunday masses were kept in houses to ward against evil. Denmark, however, lying far from the nearest palm tree, used willow branches instead.
Also unique to Denmark is the number of days off associated with the holiday. Despite having all but abandoned its active practice of the Christian faith, the nation nearly closes down during the week before Easter.
Schools hold a week-long Easter holiday, and many parents choose to use the last of their own annual holidays to spend some time with the children, travel south or do the season's first gardening - weather permitting.
Expect long queues at the supermarket Wednesday evening, as people load up on essentials. Shops are closed Thursday and Friday. They do reopen on Saturday, only to close down again on Sunday and Monday.
For those with a dire need to shop, Sweden is open.

The Danes 'celebrate' Easter with 5 days off. Hmm, so far so good I thought. I read on and learned that the Danes eat cabbage during Holy Week ( probably as a penance, LOL), that stores are closed 4 of those 5 days, and that Danes are expected to spend time with their families. Nothing too bad there, but why do they do this? The sad part is when one reads that"despite having all but abandoned its active practice of the Christian faith, the nation nearly closes down the week before Easter". Before you feel too superior, here we have done the same thing, at Christmas it is all Santa and little or no Baby Jesus, and we've reduced the "celebration" of Easter to baskets and colored eggs, Jesus is only given lip service, if that. Why bother celebrating Christmas or Easter, if you have no Christian belief? Call it winter break, spring break, party days, Saturnalia, whatever, but why call it Christmas or Easter if it has no meaning? It's like going to a birthday party when you have no interest in the guest of honor. No wonder Africa has started sending missionaries to the 'civilized West".

Week 13- Utica OD Post More Folks Go Out to Eat For Easter

http://www.uticaod.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060410/NEWS/604100316/1001


"Fred Valentini no longer rotates hosting Easter dinner with his relatives. It's kind of a space issue.
"Yes, a party of 30," Valentini said. "We have a big family."
It's often a tradition, or sometimes a treat, but many families celebrate Easter Sunday by going out for a dinner buffet. Area restaurants offer special spreads, usually providing a host of entrees to choose from, and reservations often are required.
Valentini, his wife, Maria, and their daughter, Arianna, will have dinner with 27 of their closest relatives Sunday at Daniele at Valley View Country Club. This will be the family's fourth Easter spent at the restaurant.
"To have that many people at one house would be a phenomenal amount of work to prepare," Valentini said. "Where are you going to sit that many people at one table?"

I certainly understand that entertaining 30 guests for dinner would be a difficult, if not daunting task, but still I think there is something impersonal about going to dinner for a holiday, especially Christmas or Easter, to a restaurant. The point of the holiday is somewhat cheapened when it just becomes another production that can be "produced" anywhere. I would think if each family group signed up to bring some of the food, it would not be too much work for any one family. I do admit 30 people would be a lot of people to squeeze into most homes today, but what did people do in the "old days"? They just 'made room' as they could. Another factor I think should be considered is that when people patronize restaurants for holidays, it means that the staff at the restaurant has to work, and they do not usually have any choice in the matter, so they may not have time to spend with their own families for the holiday.

In other words, I think everyone should just stay home and celebrate with their own families.

Week 13- Opinion Post- "Climate of Fear"?

http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0410/p01s01-ussc.html

The news is full of the protests recently in favor of illegal immigration. Oh they don't don't call it that, they use code words like "immigrant's rights" or they compare it to the 1960's civil rights marches by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. " Organizers originally designed a broad platform they hoped would attract a wide array of immigrants - Pacific Islanders, Southeast Asians, Europeans, Africans, and Pakistanis. The specific objection is legislation, approved by the US House in December, that makes it a felony (rather than a civil offense) to be in the US illegally. But organizers are also asking for something: worker protections, civil rights measures, family reunification, and immigration reform that defines "a path to citizenship for current undocumented and future immigrants to the US."
"This is America's civil rights battle for the 21st century," says Chung-Wha Hong of the New York Immigration Coalition, an umbrella organization for about 150 groups in New York State that work with immigrants and refugees. " They are demanding family 'reunification' for people that have come here illegally? So what does that mean in practice? It means that if anyone from another country can manage to get their feet on American soil, either by coming legally or illegally, they can then demand that the rest of their family be admitted. How absurd!! This whole issue is sadly absurd. Some of these people ( illegal immigrants) have even had the chutzpah to say they aren't 'just criminals"! What else would you call someone who breaks the law? They ARE criminals, and unless we want to get an even greater tide of illegals flooding our borders, we had better send as many as possible packing. Furthermore, the proposed law should state that anyone found in this country illegally is automatically ineligible for American citizenship. And while we are on the subject of citizenship, they should also change the law so that only the children of citizens are citizens, if illegals have children here they should not be able to gain citizenship just by being born here. Some European countries have similar provisions, and it seems to be working for them.

The final straw in the article was a quote from an Islamic cleric; "If you watch TV and read the papers, you would think this [immigration reform] is primarily an issue only for Latinos or only illegals or only poor immigrants. [Monday] will show differently," predicts Abdul Malik Mujahid, a Chicago-based Islamic cleric who says 7,000 Muslims will march there Monday to protest the "climate of fear" since 9/11. "Latino organizers have done a big favor not just to themselves but to all other immigrants, as well as America itself, by standing up and saying this country's immigration system is broken and needs to be fixed. Now the rest of us must join in." A 'climate of fear'? What is this man talking about ? The only climate of fear I am aware of is that radical Islamists have plainly stated that they wish to kill as many Americans as possible, and that is why so many people seem to be afraid of Muslims. We didn't wake up one morning and say "let's pick on some immigrant group" and select Muslims, there are very good reasons why there is a climate of fear when non Muslims view Muslims, and until Muslims realize that since they a part of their problem, and that they must be part of the solution, nothing will change. Trying to play the aggrieved victim here is not only counter-productive, but just plain stupid.

This country's immigration laws are indeed, 'broken", but that fact means that illegal aliens have been able to 'push down the doors' to get in. Let's secure our nation's borders by passing, and then enforcing, strict new laws on immigration.

Week 13-No Comparison

No comparison to Yul

No comparison to Heston

There IS no comparison to the older film.

I saw about 10 minutes of this new "Ten Commandments"movie. It took me three tries to watch that 10 minutes though. It was about what I expected, another attempt at a modern remake of a fine old film, and also, as I expected, not worth being mentioned in the same sentence as the original. Maybe the actor was just miscast, but I found myself wondering what fool would follow this cardboard Moses across the street, much less out of Egypt. "Moses" grated on me the entire 600 seconds or so that I was tuned in. I did wish I had seen a scene with Pharoah, but judging by the above picture, if that is the Pharaoah character, I'd guess that probably didn't measure up to the one played by Yul Brynner in the older film either. As I said before, three things can happen with a remake, two of them are bad, and this film would have had to do a lot just not to have been much worse than the original, instead, it was a whole lot worse. It made me remember what a gem the original was.