As a member of a group of American academicians sponsored by the Council On International Educational Exchange Seminar we met with Vietnamese colleagues at Hanoi University and University of Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). Seminar theme: VIETNAM”S HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES (January, 1993). Journal entries provided information for a course I had been teaching for some years, namely, VIETNAMContinue reading “VISITING HO CHI MINH’S MAUSOLEUM AND ENVIRONS”
Category Archives: Observations
YEAR 84 – ANNIVERSARIES AND CONTINUED BLESSINGS
On the cusp of my 85th birthday (6/3/1928) a retrospective musing on YEAR 84 may be in order. Ruth and I celebrated our 60th wedding anniversary on December 27th, 2013. Anniversary observance was shared with four Twin Cities families that included mates and several grandchildren. High point of a delightful family gathering was sharing with each a copyContinue reading “YEAR 84 – ANNIVERSARIES AND CONTINUED BLESSINGS”
REFLECTIONS: THE FUTURE OF RACE
Recently Reflections, the Yale Divinity School’s biannually published magazine of theological and ethical inquiry, crossed my desk. The spring theme of 2013 Reflections is: The Future of Race. Gregory Sterling, Dean of Yale Divinity School, writing From the Dean’s Desk, observes that the last election season “virtually ignored race as an issue. It is naïve to thinkContinue reading “REFLECTIONS: THE FUTURE OF RACE”
SHEEPSKIN (PIGSKIN) WOOLFSKIN – RHETORICAL FAUX PAS
Recently on Mother’s Day (5/12/13) the Star Tribune social/political cartoon on the Opinion Page pictured a student graduate with sheepskin (diploma) clutched in hand and a vicious wolf (woolfskin) with threatening incisors clutching the graduate’s back side with student debt as a tattoo inscribed on its mangy fur. Sheepskin immediately caught my attention reminding me of aContinue reading “SHEEPSKIN (PIGSKIN) WOOLFSKIN – RHETORICAL FAUX PAS”
Teacher/Student – Intellectual Teeter-Totter
March 7, 2013 The following is a revision of remarks made at FREDSTOCK – the public introduction of ( fall of 2011) The Fred and Ruth Bartling Scholarship. “The teacher, in the process relevant to the academic discipline or subject taught, must analyse educational aims and the methodological approach to learning. This process ought to occur in relationship to the teacher’sContinue reading “Teacher/Student – Intellectual Teeter-Totter”
NAPOLEON’S WATERLOO – Military Miniatures
February 1, 2013 One of my Academy “lads” favored me with four photos of his erstwhile hobby displayed in his newly purchased display case military miniatures depicting Napoleon’s Waterloo. Tim Utter, admission counselor at Concordia University, was an Academy student during the years I was an Academy instructor during the early and mid-sixties. Tim is a member ofContinue reading “NAPOLEON’S WATERLOO – Military Miniatures”
“Godly Gossip” / “Bountiful Feet Announcing Good News”
November 18, 2012 The 1953 graduating class of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis numbered 102 graduates. That class of which I was a member will observe shortly 60 years of ministry. Over the course of the past fifteen years Rev. Dr. Arlo Nau has kept classmates in touch by occasionally sending news of classmates headlined: Godly Gossip. Of the original 102Continue reading ““Godly Gossip” / “Bountiful Feet Announcing Good News””
Why We Love To Hate Politicians
November 5, 2012 Four days prior to the General Election Dr. Charles (Chuck) Graham presented a lecture: Why We Love To Hate Politician. His audience was his fellow Becketwood Cooperative members. Known as Chuck here at Becketwood he is beloved and respected and a stimulating contributor to Mancave discussion. With a doctorate in political science he served as an aid to Senator ProxmireContinue reading “Why We Love To Hate Politicians”
Yankee GI Confronts Jim Crow
October 29,2012 Conversation in the Becketwood Mancave (basement workroom) recently had a Yankee GI veteran describe a confrontation he had with segregation in the Jim Crow wartime South. A gentleman in his early nineties and a quietly reserved Mancave regular, raised in Minnesota, stated he had virtually no awareness of or interaction with African-Americans prior to military training in the South during WWII. He recalls his dismay and lackContinue reading “Yankee GI Confronts Jim Crow”
Memorable Events in my Mother’s Life
September 30, 2012 As family archivist my sister recently placed into my care some of our father’s courtship correspondence with our mother spanning the years 1916 through 1919. Among the letters was a Chicago Tribune clipping, yellow with age, describing Chicago’s celebration of the Armistice with Germany, November 11, 1918. After some thought the presenceContinue reading “Memorable Events in my Mother’s Life”
The Bartling Scholarship 