 If you try to make and impression that's the impression you'll make
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Posted by Jerry Pattengale on Mar 30, 08 03:33 PM
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There were twenty million dollars on the table in front of me, and I couldn’t afford the table. The check was headed to a university out west and the coffee table was special ordered from the Far East. At that same table pastors, musicians, college presidents, politicians, and others smiled as checks were extended across the table to their causes. And on many occasions, egos, disingenuous spirits and other intangibles sent sad souls away from the table empty handed. At the same table three million dollars was written to the New Era Foundation, which at the time was considered a...
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Holden Caulfied's Dreary World Comes Alive
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Posted by Jerry Pattengale on Mar 29, 08 11:19 AM
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1 Comments
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How To Talk about Books You Haven’t Read is perhaps the best title of a book this decade. We’ve all been there—looking glassy-eyed like 50Cent and PDaddy at an opera. I had not read Catcher in the Rye until becoming a “Dr.” At first mention it sounded like an agrarian novel. However, I soon learned enough about the book's thesis and search for meaning to know that it was rather controversial. That fateful day when I finally read it (and such books should only take a day) my eyes were opened to the real world of Holden Caulfield and his...
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Standing in the Senate Room--Looking to Arlington
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Posted by Jerry Pattengale on Mar 16, 08 07:34 AM
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Standing in the Indiana State capitol I heard a sandpaper-scraping sound, and turned only to see a lobbyist dragging his chin on the floor. An otherwise successful bloke, his kindly countenance couldn’t hide the fact that on this day his special interest was the big loser as a bi-partisan answer to a property tax crisis was about to pass. On this busiest of days, the last of the session, there was an amazing revelry, a joyful bi-partisan exchange in the majestic cloisters. From the restroom to the balcony, no sharp words were heard in this historic home of all three...
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Sitting with JFK at St. Anne's
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Posted by Jerry Pattengale on Mar 7, 08 07:44 AM
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4 Comments
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John F. Kennedy sat next to me at St. Anne’s Catholic Church in West Palm Beach, for his last mass in this life—though 40 years before my arrival. Emotions welled as I reflected on his passionate desire for change, for attendance to the human condition, and the various references to his profile during this current election season. To drive from Jupiter Island and homes with 25 attendants across to the modest place of worship is quite a contrast in cultures, and provides the backdrop for JFK’s life. Though from the Sybaritic climate of caviar and cashmere, he championed the daily...
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 A stitch and a prayer
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Posted by Angie Knight on Mar 4, 08 10:28 PM
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4 Comments
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Knitting and crocheting are skills I admire – but I’m afraid that counted cross stitch is the “fanciest” needlework I have managed for any period of time. Ever. So it was that when my mother brought a package to me, its contents took my breath away. I love knitted sweaters, knitted scarves, knitted winter hats… but the shawl in the package was different. How so? This wasn’t just a knitted or crocheted shawl: it was a “prayer shawl.”...
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 The Passing of an Icon
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Posted by Jim Garringer on Mar 4, 08 01:51 PM
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Brett Favre retired today. As spectacular as his career was, as ageless as his body seemed, as magical as some of the athletic feats he performed were, I really expected something more climactic than how it played out. “Brett Favre, you’ve just won the Super Bowl! What are you going to do now?” Without hesitation he shouts, “I’m going to Disneyworld! And then I’m going to retire!” Well, maybe not. BTW, how do you get Farve from Favre?...
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 Offseason, off the roster
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Posted by Andrea Smithson on Mar 3, 08 06:51 PM
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1 Comments
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I've been following my Colts' free agency from afar. (As in, I've been too busy with basketball to make daily checkups.) So far, I have nothing but small complaints. Franchising Dallas Clark was, of course, the best thing they could have done....
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 Lessons I Learned at Recess
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Posted by Rhonda Kraai on Mar 1, 08 07:58 PM
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I wanted to name this blog, "Everything I needed to know in Life I Learned at Recess" however, that sounded a bit too familar and probably not far reaching enough as recess was only for 15 minutes twice a day.So instead, here are some lessons at recess that I learned that I will share with you. Recess, that unstructured social time, used to create a whole host of learning opportunities for elementary students.One of the most traumatic was the day I tried to scale a 7 ft. fence while I was being chased. I learned that when someone pulls...
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The Seeing Eye -- A Memorable Day in West Palm Beach
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Posted by Jerry Pattengale on Feb 29, 08 10:23 PM
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1 Comments
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A few hours ago I witnessed discrimination of the 1960’s ilk as three airport taxicab drivers in succession refused the family in front of me. Suddently West Palm Beach became overcast and the human condition grew cold. I watched my new friends literally left on the curb as the drivers sped away. Jim, Ginger, Colby and Payton went from perplexed to rightfully indignant. The first driver actually shook his head no, then paced, and noted that “it’s not going to happen.” James expressed a remarkable patience, rolling his eyes a bit more than usual, but reserved. I was talking with...
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Pacers Woes
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Posted by Jim Garringer on Feb 28, 08 02:05 PM
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1 Comments
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Wow. It is hard being an Indiana Pacers fan these days. I’ve been largely silent on the subject since I started this blog because, well, there hasn’t been much Pacers’ good news to talk about. I grew up a Pacers fan. I remember the great ABA championship teams with Mel Daniels, Bob Netolicky, Roger Brown, George McGinnis and Billy Keller. I remember the games at the fairgrounds coliseum in the days before the Pacers moved into Market Square Arena and joined the NBA. And I remember the great NBA Pacers teams of 10 years ago that came oh-so-close to winning...
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Changing Clutch Plates in the Snow
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Posted by Jerry Pattengale on Feb 27, 08 10:08 PM
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2 Comments
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My dad rapped three decades before its time, but all in expletives. Changing the clutch plate on your family car in the snow means you’re short on doe. I held the flashlight until my hands went numb. Dad’s gloves went on and off until shortly before the sun arose and the car worked and so did dad. I spent a week in the windy snow that night. Dad would light another cigarette, swear a bit, then slide under again on cardboard. A few jaunts into the house. A few hot chocolates and Falls City beers. More smokes and swear words....
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What should we do about recess?
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Posted by Rhonda Kraai on Feb 26, 08 08:27 PM
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2 Comments
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Recess has been a part of the school culture since the beginning of time, well as long as there have been schools, there has been recess. Why was recess created? It appears that educators recognized that children needed a time to "unwind" have unstructured time, and have a part of their day that children could control. Along with the physical and social benefits of recess, it gives everyone, including the teacher, a break from the daily routine. In that vain, why have so many schools struggled with what to do about recess. It appears that it is the first...
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They burned their new outhouses
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Posted by Jerry Pattengale on Feb 24, 08 05:33 PM
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2 Comments
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Our friend recently helped build outhouses for homeless Gypsies in Romania, sensing the need to assist them in surviving their refugee squalor. The next day Bekah was a bit perplexed to find the wooden toilets gone--until noticing families huddled in the cold around fire pits made from the walls. I once watched as several families gave gifts to struggling families, an event sponsored by a youth program in Marion, Indiana called J.C.Body Shop. The kids seemed rather overjoyed, and many left protecting their gifts still in their boxes. A few weeks later I recall asking several of the teens if...
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When the World Crawls through the Church Door
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Posted by Jerry Pattengale on Feb 22, 08 05:28 PM
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2 Comments
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When the legless man crawled through the front door of the church on his elbows, the preacher paused. When a scarred Rawandan woman and a wealthy Brit spontaneously jumped from their pews to lift him to his, the sermon was complete—lived out in front of the church. My friend Peter Rhetts relates this first-hand account in a speech from his years of travels as a lawyer for a missions organization. Regardless of our various religious backgrounds, like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. before Gandhi, we can all lean into his enduring passion for humanity’s crises and be better for doing...
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Straddling Bodies to Swing Pillows--San Francisco Tradition
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Posted by Jerry Pattengale on Feb 20, 08 09:50 PM
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3 Comments
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I couldn’t comprehend what had just transpired nine floors beneath my San Francisco Hyatt window—the large plaza was covered with snow. The noise of hundreds of people awoke me from my jetlag recovery, and on wobbly legs and through blurry eyes my mind tried to catch up with the temperature disconnect—tons of snow in sunny Cisco. Then I began to recognize push brooms instead of snow shovels, and pillows instead of snowmen. It was Valentine’s Day and I had just missed a massive pillow fight. Later the hotel staff told me that it’s a tradition. Every year people go take...
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