The Notes in My Back Pocket

Lately I've been collecting little snippets of news items and personal things that I find interesting or noteworthy. I write this stuff down on paper and tuck it into one of my back pockets, where they sit until I get the chance to sit down and write. While somewhat archaic in the age of smartphones, it's a system that seems to work, and gives me a sense of tactile nostalgia for things at a slower, more simple pace.

I pulled several pieces of paper out of my back pocket today. The items I wrote down all deserve some mention in a timely fashion, so without any more of a lead-up, here's some stuff that matters, at least to me:

Persistence, Humility, Vulnerability

The sermon at our church on August 7 has been on my mind ever since. Our pastor introduced us to Chapter 18 of Luke's Gospel. The virtues listed above are among the key points of this chapter, as illustrated through several parables.

I just found an excellent template and outline for a group bible study that encompasses, and has helped me make more sense of, what Luke 18 says about human behavior in contrast to the teachings of Christ. This particular chapter has some serious lessons about this. For example:

William Barclay states "(i) No man who is proud can pray; (ii) No man who despises his fellow men can pray; (iii) True prayer comes from setting our lives beside the life of God."

If you're so inclined, grab your Bible and follow along with the Lost Pine outline. Enjoy a little journey inward, maybe.


Memories of Growing Up in Sewickley

The link above is for a Facebook group started by Sewickley native William Gittins, who now resides in Jackson, Miss. I went to high school with a couple of his brothers. Since its start a few weeks ago, it has amassed over 1200 members and creates a tremendous online time warp if you spend too long reading the myriad recollections of many who called the Sewickley area home for some part of their lives.

Sewickley Patch picked up on the phenomenon earlier this week, and spoke with Mr. Gittins for a story they ran about the group. It's still going strong, and will hopefully also serve as a means to educate current residents about what it was like to grow up here.

A memory that popped into my head while writing this was the existence of at least 3 hardware stores (Hegner's, Sewickley Hardware, Sickeler's) in downtown Sewickley. There's something ironic to that, considering that I work for a big-box home improvement place now.

If you grew up here, and haven't checked this out yet, you should. Make sure you don't have to be anywhere for a couple of hours first, though. It's a true testament to the power (good or bad) of social media.


London Calling

The title of one of my favorite records from the early 80's, if not of all time. The Clash continued the activist tone of their previous two albums, but the album is also more polished and tempered somewhat to make their music and message more accessible. Perhaps this why my son likes this record and the band as well.

During the recent riots that tore into several London neighborhoods, songs from this record were going through my head, particularly The Guns of Brixton:

You can crush us, you can bruise us, but you'll have to answer to...

While on the surface the recent unrest in England may be similar to the anger and angst expressed by the punk movement of the 70's and 80's, there seemed to be no rhyme or reason to some of the destruction. Young people burning down their own neighborhoods for sport, or because they are bored, disaffected, or the product of a dysfunctional society. London's burning with boredom now..

All kinds of little theories pop up in my head when I read about this, and then are quickly dismissed as nonsense. One theory sticks around, though - is there a correlation between lack of self-respect and and initiative and what we saw in London? Is that all part of the equation? Do we not see this as much in the US because we have these qualities in comparative abundance, or because we are better controlled?


BART!

Speaking of control, there has always been much discussion of the influence of wireless communications and social networks on the ability to rapidly mobilize people into action. From the Arab Spring to the G-20 protests right here in Pittsburgh, Twitter and other systems have been used to get people moving and taking direct action, whether for good or ill.

A recent action by San Francisco's Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system has raised the hackles of activists and regulators alike. Seems that as a part of preparations for protests over the shooting of a homeless man by BART police, BART administration shut down access to wireless networks through its subway tunnels.

Access to communication systems is important to life in these modern times, whether it be as part of an international commerce engine, or just a way for families to keep in touch. Arbitrarily shutting down these systems as a means of quelling dissent, or the lawful expression of ideas in a manner uncomfortable to some, is a 21st century affront to the First Amendment, and needs to be dealt with as such.

BART was wrong. This reminds me of a retail cashier rule, expressed as an acronym, with some Luke 18 and Simpson-esque connotations:

LISA - Look InSide Always.


'Gasland' Comes to Sewickley

A year ago last week, the acclaimed documentary 'Gasland' was shown in Grand Junction, Colorado. Josh Fox, the film's Director, was on hand for the screening to field comments and questions. I wrote about this at the time because I was living there, and also lamented the absence of a local media presence to publicize and report on the event. Granted, it's a much smaller media market over there.

Tonight at 6:30, the film gets a screening at the Sewickley Public Library, albeit without Mr. Fox in tow. The publicity has been fairly robust, at least online, and it's a good bet there will be an interested crowd at the library this evening.

Regardless on which side of the drilling debate you may fall, the film is worthwhile
because it helps to document the activities of the drilling industry would otherwise not see the light of day. I've seen enough of the effects to the environment, and on society and culture, to know that jobs and money are great but are not all sweetness and light. We have enough of an industrial past here to (hopefully) remind us of that.


Time to persist on some house projects. Have a great day.

Information Trepidation

By now, most of us GJ locals who follow the news are aware of several occurrences over the past week that have raised hackles from the halls of government in the Grand Valley to around the globe. The debate about government information, who should have access to it, and how much it should cost to retrieve it has dominated news cycles from Grand Junction to Geneva.

The editorial pages of Sunday's Sentinel provide reflection and analysis of all of these occurrences, along with opinion about what should be happening in response to the revelations, and attempts at obfuscation, that has resulted in the present information trepidation. Sorry..having too much fun there.

Perhaps the first item on my list should be the manner in which this editorial analysis and other information gets hidden behind the Sentinel's increasingly annoying paywall. To their credit, the Sentinel's stories about the Mesa County information breach have been visible to anyone, but Sunday's editorial about the incident is only available to subscribers. That editorial drew parallels between the county's inadvertent data dump and the deliberate distribution of US Government cables by WikiLeaks. Both have the potential to damage reputations at the least, lives at the worst.

However damaging the revelations may be from the WikiLeaks disclosures, they demonstrate the disrespectful and duplicitous discourse that often hides behind attempts at being diplomatic. Aptly-named conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer echoed many of similar mind in wanting to condemn WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to a lifetime of looking over his shoulder if he cannot be successfully prosecuted or otherwise dealt with in some deliberate and stealthy fashion, perhaps one straight out of a Bourne movie.

I can see the need to maintain secrecy about certain things, but I also believe that our government goes too far in many areas. The spectre of "ugly" Americanism seems to be alive and well in the boorish attitudes that pervade much of the product of "Cablegate". Further contributing to the more surreal aspects of the story are reports that the US Government is warning employees and soldiers not to read classified material, even though it already may be well into the public domain.

These cables have something in common with the e-mails between public officials that have been obtained by our local media in recent weeks. They both illustrate to me that some of our leaders not only misrepresent themselves to other leaders, they also present a questionable example to their subordinates who toil to maintain a standard of behavior and decorum that their customers expect, and that these leaders themselves betray.

I stand guilty as charged for such moments during my career in public service, and there are but a select few of these occurrences that I do not regret. Such is the paradoxical charm of representative government, and the bureaucracy that exists to support and maintain it.

*****

As a volunteer with Mesa County Search and Rescue, the personal information that I provided to the Sheriff's Office as part of the application process may have been part of the information that was put onto an unsecured FTP site in preparation for data conversion and formatting. I expect that I'll be one of many heeding the county's advisory bulletin from last week.

Both County administration and Sheriff Hilkey and his staff deserve credit for quickly bringing the matter to the attention of the citizens they serve. Their commitment to disclosing the issue to the public, cooperating with the media, and being transparent in updating the steps being taken to mitigate the impact of the incident is admirable considering the daunting circumstances.

This doesn't mean that the mistake itself is by any means excusable, but to me it is understandable. The data conversion that necessitated the transfer of information to begin with is part of the procurement of a new Computer Aided Dispatch and Records Management System (CAD/RMS) for the Grand Junction Regional Communication Center and the bulk of the county's local law enforcement. The consolidation of these systems, especially between the GJPD and the Sheriff's Department, has been a long time coming and should be welcomed by those who value the efficiency of information sharing (with appropriate safeguards), the consolidation of similar arms of government, and the leveraging of economies of scale to accomplish both for the benefit of all.

*****

In contrast, the City of Grand Junction has been taken to task for assigning a $1,300 price tag to a citizen's public records request. It should be noted that the request concerns the City's approval of a gravel pit on land annexed into the City that is only accessible through a residential neighborhood that is not in the City. This is yet another consequence of the haphazard annexation and questionable growth that has been the hallmark of the flawed Persigo Agreement between the City and Mesa County since it's adoption in the late 1990's.

Sentinel columnist Denny Herzog made the case that a government committed to transparency in the bulk of its operations would not let such treatment stand. I believe this to be especially true when the citizens requesting this information are essentially powerless to obtain redress at the ballot box or any other reasonable means in a representative democracy, as they do not reside in the City but stand to have their quality of life drastically impacted by a City decision.

Ralph D'Andrea has written several times about these circumstances, as he resides on Orchard Mesa where this latest Persigo travesty has also occurred. A comment to his most recent post on the subject provides information on where to donate in case you would like to help raise the funds necessary for the residents of the 29 3/4 Road area to obtain the information they need, should the City maintain their position on the matter.

Over my years in public service and as a private citizen, I have learned (sometimes the hard way) the value of a civil tongue in written communication whenever possible, in hopes of effectively illustrating the issues at hand and building consensus toward solutions that benefit all stakeholders. I hope that some of the inevitable changes that will take place as a result of these releases and controversies will have at their heart the need to conduct the business of governance with a commitment to openness and respect as a baseline, with discretion and secrecy being utilized with a great deal more judiciousness than in the past.

Time to get ready for work and get the newspaper. Have a good week ahead.

Answered Prayers and Accepting Loss

As much as the world appeared transfixed by the rescue of the 33 miners in Chile over the last day or so, I was impressed more with the quiet resolve of the rescue crew as they went about their work, saving the fanfare for the moment when each of the trapped miners made their way to the surface. A friend of mine put it nicely in an e-mail last night:

While we all are thankful for the answered prayers for the 33 miners from Chile safely out of the mine, we need to take a moment and focus on the 5 rescuers who willingly allowed themselves to be put down the mine, not knowing whether the rescue mission would succeed or whether the first attempt would cave in the mine and they all would die?  God Bless Them!  They are the personification of those we take for granted daily:  our police, our fireman our paramedics and EMT's.  How many of us do as great a job of walking in the path of Jesus?

She made a great point; it takes a great deal of individual resolve - call it faith, perhaps - to function as a responder in today's world, without succumbing to cynicism or outright contempt for many of the people that come into contact with responders and rescuers every day. To quote The Matrix, "there's a difference between knowing the path and walking the path". 

Leslie and I spoke briefly about the miners last night. I'm grateful for their rescue, and while I hope that they can someday tell their stories to an undoubtedly curious world, I also agree with Leslie that they should be left alone until they're comfortable in doing so on their own.

-----------------------------------------

While celebrating the seeming result of the collective prayers of the world, I must also reflect on the recent loss of another child to cancer.

Jake Hubsch, along with his parents Don and Erica and siblings Aesha and Fletcher, were neighbors and friends of Leslie, Gianna, and Michaela. Jake lost his battle with cancer last Saturday at the age of 10. 

I did not know Jake and his family as well as Leslie did, although our paths did cross more than once at Children's Hospital while both he and Michaela were there, and the family came to help remember Michaela after her passing in July.

Jake's life will be celebrated this evening at St. Stephen's Church in Sewickley, PA.

The worldly side of me laments at the number of people I have personally known and loved that have been taken from this world by cancer, especially children. Despite these feelings, I must also resolve myself to quietly accept the outcome, to be a better steward of God's love for all those He created, and be an instrument of His peace for anyone that He places in the path He has set before me.

These are easy words to type, to know...not so easy to walk.

My thoughts and prayers are with Jake's family.

Have a good day.

We Have Met the Enemy, and He Owns Us..

I know that a lot of people watch Fox News. I'm not one of them.

When I have watched Fox, I've seen some things that were interesting, and some things so crazy that's it's hard to change the channel for the astonishment.

Yesterday, Jon Stewart paid particular attention to probably the most offensive part of Fox News' programming schedule (aside from Glenn Beck), Fox and Friends. He caught them trying to play Woodward and Bernstein, "following the money" that is funding in part the Park 51 Islamic Cultural Center near Ground Zero.

Apparently, what Fox found when they went looking for the money caused them to structure their reporting in a particular way. Mr. Stewart and his staff analyzed, exposed, and basically skewered Fox for doing so. Regardless of what you think about Jon Stewart or Fox News, this is worth 10 minutes of your time:

The Parent Company Trap www.thedailyshow.com
Fox News has not responded, and very few mainstream media outlets have chosen to delve into this further. Perhaps they will down the road.

To quote the 'On Faith' blog post by Valerie Elverton Dixon:

Islam did not attack the United States on September 11, 2001. Criminals attacked this nation.

The construction of that facility has met all requirements and been approved by the local government of New York City. That's as far as government can and should go. Those individuals and groups that espouse political, economic, and religious liberty, yet are opposed to the right of this facility to exist in the place they have chosen, are hypocrites, plain and simple. 

ADDENDUM 8/27 10:40 AM - ACLU statement regarding Park 51 Islamic Cultural Center. 

A Simple Act of Prayer

I had to pause and reflect a bit when I read the story yesterday about the 33 miners in Chile who have been trapped alive by a collapse for 20 days now. The report that these men will likely be down there for another four months until a rescue tunnel can be drilled was difficult for me to comprehend.

Earlier yesterday, Leslie told me to count my blessings. That's for sure.

Grand Junction blogger Todd Transmeier, himself a former miner, touched on this today in an excellent post that put forth a simple way to offer prayer for the miners' safety, resolve, and sanity as this ordeal continues:

Until these men are freed, I am going to say a little prayer for these men every time I turn on a light switch. I just need a reminder and I thought a fitting reminder would be to turn the dark to light using the resources provided by an underground miner.

I'm going to do the same. There really isn't much more to say except to keep these men in your hearts as the rescue operation continues.

Oh, yeah - count your blessings.