Interesting. Thanks for the insight, Frank. One lesson I learned
long ago, even among the most close knit of groups, there lurks
insurrection. From looking in from outside, I have seen what appears
to be some very significant changes in the thinking of the Catholic
Church. Could Pope Francis be the first in a new line of Pontiffs?
Carl Jarvis
On 5/15/16, Frank Ventura <frank.ventura@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Carl, the nuns had a somewhat modified habit. They did not wear any
headpiece. Even the nuns fell prey to the big hair. However they did wear
the black robe/vestment which always seemed like it was tailored by the same
people who make cheap maternity dresses. However if you kept looking
downwards you would find the biggest concession to 80s overindulgence and
that was the shoes. The $200 Italian leather pumps were uniform dress.
Interestingly sometimes after I left there those nuns made a break from
their parent congregation (Congregation of Notre Dame) and I wonder if it
was about finances.
Frank
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Sunday, May 15, 2016 4:13 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: scooter dies at 30
Frank,
Back in 1986, in Catholic School, did the Nuns still wear Habits?
When I could still see, before 1965, I think all Nuns wore the black Habits.
At least the ones teaching at the local girls high school. I was told, at
least I think I didn't make it up, that the black Habit represented Original
Sin. I always marveled at Black people joining the Catholic Church, or the
Mormon Church, for that matter.
Carl Jarvis
On 5/15/16, Frank Ventura <frank.ventura@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
In 1986 I was still in catholic school and got passes to leave on the
evenings and weekends to work in a local gas station. Although the
passes ate up most of my wages I still had enough left over to help
out a little at home which was good since my mother hadn't heard
anything from my father in years by then. The Reagan era hit the nuns
hard and the convent's Ford Escorts were replaced with Caddilac Sedan
D'villes. Word like charity, socialism, and compassion were as ugly as
the F word. On a fashion front hair was big, shoulders were padded and
neon was as good as a hair color as it was a sign color.
Frank
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Miriam
Vieni
Sent: Saturday, May 14, 2016 12:21 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: scooter dies at 30
In 1986, it was a year after my husband's death. A group from the
Ethical Humanist Society was traveling to Kenya for a tour led by the
religious leader and his wife, who had served in Kenya in the Peace
Corps. My friend from Michigan and I went on that trip. I remember a
home for aged women on the outskirts of Niarobi where women whose
husbands had divorced them or who were disabled, were cared for in a
windowless building with an open front, lots of red dust, and drainage
ditches filled with waste, a hospital for mentally ill people where I
was surrounded by Schizophrenic young men who exhibited the same
symptoms that my patients had,at the mental health clinic where I
worked in 1961, a lioness, surrounded by her babies, lying on a rock,
in the sun, a line of elephants in the distance, a Massai village with
piles of raw cow dung which would be used to patch the roofs of
dwellings and huge clouds of glies. All of that and more is what blots
out the rest of
1986 for me.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Saturday, May 14, 2016 10:44 AM
To: blind-democracy
Subject: [blind-democracy] scooter dies at 30
No, not an unsung Freedom Fighter, gunned down by the Forces of Evil.
Just a simple cat. Not even the record holder, but the current oldest
living cat. Oops! Scooter died before receiving the honor. But the
point of this pointless ramble is that I got to thinking about what
the world was like, at least here in the good old USA, back in 1986.
Here's the report. Think about your own world back 30 years ago.
Siamese cat, Scooter, was named the world's oldest living cat by the
Guinness Book of World Records and celebrated his 30th birthday on
March 26.
But his owner, Gail Floyd of Mansfield, Texas, said Scooter had died
by the time Guinness conferred its title on April 8.
Veterinarian, Dr Tricia Latimer, said Scooter had lived to the
equivalent of about 136 human years.
Scooter was not Guinness's oldest cat of all time, though. That
distinction belongs to a fellow Texas cat who lived to be 38.
Press Association
******
We can all remember 1986, assuming we're over 35 or so, but it's
difficult to bring up a memory of the world as it was. My boss, Paul
DzieDzic, was the head of a state agency. As director of the
Orientation and training Center, I often rode with Paul from Seattle
to Olympia for management meetings. The State of Washington had not
yet approved the use of cellular phones. Along the I-5 corridor there
were turnouts with public telephones.
Paul, always half an hour late for a meeting, would fly down the
freeway, pull into a turnout and check with his secretary for
messages. Another memory. In my OTC program we had a communications
class. Braille was taught separately from other communications. We
still taught students to use the IBM Selectric, the state of Art among
typewriters. Braille was copied via Therma Form.
We had no computer class. In fact, I was several years away from my
first computer, and I was still using an old manual typewriter. We
had no Voice Mail. My secretary took my calls when I was not in my
office, and read them to me later. I Brailled out what information I
needed.
Other memories included: Space Shuttle Challenger Explodes, Human
Genome Project launched, Sweeping tax reform legislation USA, Bovine
spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) hits UK Cattle, Iran-Contra Affair
becomes public, Soviet Nuclear reactor at Chernobyl Explosion causing
major Nuclear Fallout, US bombs Libya
1986 was the first year I took a two week vacation. Cathy and I had
not honeymooned following our marriage in 1982, so we decided that it
was high time to do so. Off to Hawaii we went, along with Cathy's
brother and sister-in-law. I remember hearing the news about the bombing
of Libya.
Later that day we received a frantic call from my oldest daughter who
was at our house watching our two younger children. "Have you heard
anything about Libya retaliating? I think I hear bombs going off."
Of course it was a rare thunder storm in the Olympic mountains.
In 1986, Cathy was director of the Para Legal unit for the Seattle
prosecuting attorney's.
In her office was a room containing huge revolving files containing
all of the units records. They were also using Selectrics.
But in spite of all the specific memories, I still can't really get my
head around the sense of 1986, except to say that it was a very different
world.
And I wonder what the year 2046 will look like. Of course I would be
111 and probably not still hanging around.
Maybe no humans will be around.
Carl Jarvis
