A U.S. president cannot rename a State, but that doesn't stop Trump from trying. I have good friends in New Mexico and respect the State. Deb Haaland is a member of Pueblo of Laguna and if elected as governor would become the first woman native American to become governor of a state.

Labor Day

 

Do we really understand the origin of Labor Day? The TV ads think it is the day we should all buy a new mattress. (Every holiday seems to be the time to buy a new mattress.) Nor is it "the end of summer" or "the beginning of school."

Labor Day became a U.S. federal holiday in 1894. President Grover Cleveland signed the legislation making the first Monday in September a legal national holiday following the turbulent Pullman Strike.

RFK

 

Oversight and control for special education programs across the country will now be under the  control of anti-vaccine fanatic Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. He wants to “reparent” a wide range of children on “wellness farms”: including kids with special needs, kids taking prescribed medication for anxiety or depression, and “Black kids” (in his own words) who are on drugs which he believes cause violence.

Gloria Steinem

I give thanks for the life and work of Gloria Steinem. I was part of the feminist/womanist movement of the 1970's. I was at Yale Divinity School then. Joan Forsberg, and Letty Russell led us as women students and faculty. Today I sent to Wartburg Seminary library a complete copy of 27 years of writing/editing "The Persistent Voice" which told the history of women in ministry and women in men in partnership. We wrote history as we made it. 

Final guess answer

 Answer to yesterday's guess:  Both!  I did become a refugee during the Detroit uprising and I did get stuck in a church tower, each when I was 8 1/2 months pregnant with Joel and Kirk.

Final guess

 The answer to yesterday's guess: A. I have never been to Guyana. Today's guess (A. B. or both) A. When I was 8 1/2 months pregnant with Joel in 1967 we had to escape to a refugee camp in Ann Arbor because fires were burning throughout Detroit in one of the bloodiest and most destructive urban uprisings in American history. B. In 1969 When I was 8 1/2 months pregnant with Kirk, we (including the staff) of Gethsemane Lutheran Church climbed to the top of the bell tower to watch the joint Canada/U.S. July 4th fireworks and the staff had a hard time getting me down.

Another guess

 Guess which one or both are true: A. I have been to Jamaica twice, once for a conference and once to teach at the theological school.  B. I have been to Guyana twice, going with Wartburg students to learn and serve there.

Jennaya Hope

 MUSICAL CELEBRATION OF HOPE  People from various local churches in Mason City, Iowa, organized the event “Notes of Hope.” Featured speaker and soloist this afternoon was Jennaya Everist, recent Wartburg College music therapy graduate, who shared the impact of music in her life as she lives with a severe case of Crohn's disease. 

Naming water lakes and gulfs

 Trump may sign an order to rename the Gulf of Mexico "The Gulf of America, but the rest of the world calls it the Gulf of Mexico. Trump may sign an order to name Lake Ontario "Lake America" but the rest of the world calls it Lake Ontario. And even "America" can't just be the United States, there is North America, Central America and South America. We are the "United States of America." Words matter. Names matter. 

sailor

 The young sailor who suffered so much on the aircraft carrier Lincoln that he jumped overboard in an attempt to end his life, is now facing punishment. He is charged with malingering, faking an illness and going AWOL. If this is not enough, the national news report after showing this compassionate story went for a "commercial break" trying to sell the viewers a "luxurious ocean cruise."

 "O Canada, we stand on guard for thee. God keep our land glorious and free! O Canada, we stand on guard for thee."  We love you, Canada. We have traveled through nine Canadian provinces. They are not and do not want to be the 51st state of the U.S. They deserve our respect so that we can again be good neighbors.

Trump!

 Trump starting a trade war with Canada. Trump wanting an aircraft carrier named after him (no ship ever named after a sitting president) instead of a black WW 11 war hero. What else can he possibly do? We have to stop him! Vote, people vote!