Bg's Random Ramblings And Thoughts 3

[AnneLine]

We do things differently in California, BG.  

 

When the feds moved him to Alcatraz, they put him with the general population.  Uh oh... no more pretty carpets, etc.

 

This is someone visiting the cell he had out here....

 

 

 

Big Al (no relation to little old ME!) got no special treatment when he was at San Quentin.  WHich by all accounts was truly a hell hole.   Even when the rest of SF has a rare but beautiful sunny day, Alcatraz ALWAYS seems to have a finger of gloomy fog hanging over it.... and it is cold, damp and windy out there.  I can't imagine.

 

YOu might want to check out the rest of this website - interesting stuff!!!!

 

http://www.myalcaponemuseum.com/id51.htm

 

I have NEVER wanted to go to visit Alcatraz.  I do pick up 'creepy feelings' and 'stuff' in places like that and I do NOT want to go.   My friend T loves to visit, but I dunno.....

 

 

 

 

From this website:   https://www.alcatrazcruises.com/website/faqs-alcatraz-history.aspx#history08

 

Q. How long was Al Capone on Alcatraz?

 

A. 4½ years. Capone arrived on the island on August 22, 1934 along with 52 other convicts from Atlanta Federal Penitentiary, Georgia. He had several jobs on the island including sweeping the cellhouse and working in the laundry. Capone was not popular on Alcatraz; he received no special privileges, but his notoriety made him a target for other cons. Capone got into a fight with another inmate in the recreation yard and was placed in isolation for eight days. While Capone was working in the prison basement, an inmate standing in line waiting for a haircut stabbed him with a pair of shears. Capone eventually became symptomatic from syphilis, a disease he had been carrying for years but had avoided treating. In early 1939 the authorities transferred him to Federal Correction Institute Terminal Island in Southern California to serve out the remainder of his 11-year sentence.

 

 

[TheresaThoma]

I've been to Alcatraz, very interesting place. Lots of interesting inmates and then the history got even more interesting after it was shut down as a prison.

[BG45]

We do things differently in California, BG.  

 

When the feds moved him to Alcatraz, they put him with the general population.  Uh oh... no more pretty carpets, etc.

 

This is someone visiting the cell he had out here....

 

 

 

Big Al (no relation to little old ME!) got no special treatment when he was at San Quentin.  WHich by all accounts was truly a hell hole.   Even when the rest of SF has a rare but beautiful sunny day, Alcatraz ALWAYS seems to have a finger of gloomy fog hanging over it.... and it is cold, damp and windy out there.  I can't imagine.

 

YOu might want to check out the rest of this website - interesting stuff!!!!

 

http://www.myalcaponemuseum.com/id51.htm

 

I have NEVER wanted to go to visit Alcatraz.  I do pick up 'creepy feelings' and 'stuff' in places like that and I do NOT want to go.   My friend T loves to visit, but I dunno.....

 

 

 

 

From this website:   https://www.alcatrazcruises.com/website/faqs-alcatraz-history.aspx#history08

 

Q. How long was Al Capone on Alcatraz?

 

A. 4½ years. Capone arrived on the island on August 22, 1934 along with 52 other convicts from Atlanta Federal Penitentiary, Georgia. He had several jobs on the island including sweeping the cellhouse and working in the laundry. Capone was not popular on Alcatraz; he received no special privileges, but his notoriety made him a target for other cons. Capone got into a fight with another inmate in the recreation yard and was placed in isolation for eight days. While Capone was working in the prison basement, an inmate standing in line waiting for a haircut stabbed him with a pair of shears. Capone eventually became symptomatic from syphilis, a disease he had been carrying for years but had avoided treating. In early 1939 the authorities transferred him to Federal Correction Institute Terminal Island in Southern California to serve out the remainder of his 11-year sentence.

That's really interesting...though is it bad I felt bad for him getting stabbed?  That's always vexed me about your state too, for such a "liberal" stronghold, it's extremely draconian when it comes to crime. 

 

I've been to Alcatraz, very interesting place. Lots of interesting inmates and then the history got even more interesting after it was shut down as a prison.

 

Oh neat!  How did the history get more interesting after the shutdown?

 

---

 

Picked up the "Philly Crud" that's been striking those of us who stayed at the Marriott...and had a phone interview for a possible job.  Lost my voice shortly after it was over, so thank you Lord for keeping it around during the interview!  Taking mucinex and drinking OJ.

[AnneLine]

Hey, BG -- you get healthy or I will come and HAUNT you!!!

 

Stuff that helps me get over the crud -- lots of sleep.  I can't emphasize that enough.  REST this week and weekend!

 

Combination Wonton Soup or Hot & Sour Soup.  There is something in them... it seems to help.

 

Mixture of Honey and Lemon.... there is some science to this one, the honey has antibacterial properties, and the lemon clears out phlem.

 

YOU TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF and holding you in prayer that the right job finds YOU!!!!  (and lucky students they will be!)

 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Can't be sure if this it what TT was referencing, but after the prison was closed, at one point in the late 1960's a group of Native Americans 'took over' the island, trying to get permission to reclaim it as a tribal location.   The occupation lasted several years... and one child was killed  in a fall from an old building.  

 

It is a very sad place.... I don't think I would want to visit, because I pick up the 'feel' of places like that.  Prayers for all involved......

 

 

 

BUT if you ever come out here BG (and a VISIT won't contaminate you, you know!) my good friend "T" will be happy to take you out there -- she loves to visit the place!

 

My preference is to go for a trip to Angel Island, which takes you right BY alcatraz and gives you a fantastic 5 mile walk around a wooded island with a ton of history and views of SF and the SF bay.....

 

Check this out....

 

 

http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=468

 

About The Island

 

Angel Island State Park, the largest island in the San Francisco Bay offers some of the best views of the surrounding Bay Area. With great hiking trails and many other recreational opportunities readily available, Angel Island is truly a hidden gem in the midst of the urban Bay Area. 

 

Angel Island is truly a walk through time! Beginning with the earliest inhabitants, the Coast Miwok, Angel Island was a seasonal hunting and gathering location for the local native tribes, a safe refuge and supply stop for Spanish explorers like Juan Manuel de Ayala, one of the first to map the San Francisco Bay.

From 1910 to 1940, the U.S. Immigration Station processed hundreds of thousands of immigrants, the majority from China. During World War II, Japanese, and German POWs were detained at the Station before being sent to facilities farther inland.

 

The video below is about the period when it was an Immigration Station -- known as the 'Ellis Island of the West'.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtQYhNuIXxQ#t=65

 

 

PBS' History Detectives did a fantastic segment on Angel Island as well -- let me know if you want me to try to post that one!

 

They don't mention it, but it also was a Civil War and Cold War military reservation (i.e., soldiers, etc.); my dad lived there for several weeks prior to being shipped out to Hawaii during WWII.  He said it was beautiful to visit, but a cold and foggy place and it was HORRIBLE to get up early in the morning.  I bet!

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 26, 2014 by AnneLine

[AnneLine]

Are you feeling any better, BG?????    Praying for your interview on the 3rd (Monday)....

[BG45]

Sorry!!  It's been a bit of a whirlwind week and weekend.  Thanks for the history lesson there :)

 

And not 100% better sadly, but my parents both said I sound entirely different today than I did yesterday!   Not sure if interview is on or not; on my cousin's couch in the same town as the university, because the "monster storm" was moving in and wanted to be able to get here,  WVU up the road has canceled classes.  I called the committee member I know, he says as far as he knows, we're on...but not to expect a lot of kids in the class I'm supposed to teach.  Nor does he know if all the members of the committee will make it. 

[BG45]

So...just got a call from a search committee member.  They need to find out when the Dean and Provost can open up their schedules again for me...the main campus for the university I was interviewing at tomorrow morning has closed for the first time in almost a decade.  I am currently on my cousin's couch with about two inches of ice and another 8 of snow out there lol.  I do not blame them in the slightest, though it makes the entire trip a bit of a "good to see everyone" but "my Chair will not be pleased I missed class".

[TheresaThoma]

Yuck BG but not much that you can do about missing the class. You had to go for the interview and the weather turned really bad. Be safe when you do travel back home!

[BG45]

True!  And thanks, I'll head back up on Tuesday.  As it stands, my cousin's couch and I will bond through mid-morning tomorrow given the ice and snow. 

[TheresaThoma]

Ahhh couch bonding time. Such a wonderful thing. Unfortunately the couches at our house aren't that comfy and I don't have much time for "couch bonding" :hehe2:

[BG45]

Ouch. :(  Sorry the couch bonding isn't in the future for you and your furniture!  Being busy stinks! :(

 

Just got back to PA, checked my mail, forgot to activate a test for an entire section of juvenile justice and had 37 emails in my inbox asking where the test was. :facepalm:

[AnneLine]

OH BG.. what a crappy week you have had!   Do something nice for yourself for Phat tuesday --- it is our community FEAST!!!!!!

[BG45]

Thanks AL, I did!  Pizza! :)  Did 4 classes, office hours, Ash Wed. Services, etc. on 10 ounces of pastry today for fasting purposes.  Just placed an order for a Meats pizza from Papa Johns to be delivered at midnight!

 

And this happened lol...

Friend: Phil you're really short today. Snippy, snarkier than normal. Usually you're so much more collected than this.
Me: Huh?
Friend: This is an objective observation. It took me a while, but I figured it out, you're fasting!

[BG45]

Made a blog post for the first time in a few months.  Pasted here below Spoiler Tags for those who might want to read it, or linked here:

 

Church PTSD

[spoiler]Today I've been learning that there's a lot of talk lately about "Church PTSD" and "Post Traumatic Church Syndrome" as some are calling it.  As I read the posts and the comments, I find myself nodding along, because I know these feelings well.  I've had them myself.

Leaving my Baptist church is a topic that comes up on here from time to time, but years afterward...almost a third of my life after I stopped attending it, the pain is still there, raw and fresh and bubbling to the surface.  It's not a secret to those who know me; I have an almost instinctual hatred of Evangelicalism at this point, and it's not because I find myself in a liturgical church.  Rather, reading through those posts and their comments today, I realize that it's because I'm still suffering a bit of Post Traumatic Church Syndrome myself.

The first thing to make me realize this was to read the Thirty by Thirty post on the issue, and then nod along in agreement, and then wince, at the following statement:

1.) Everyone (except us!) is going to Hell. And if you don’t share the gospel with them, their blood is on your hands. Do you want to get to heaven only to see all those you could have saved from eternal damnation?

There we have it, the first gauntlet is thrown.  Even growing up, I always held an issue with this.  There are more than 40,000 Christian denominations in the world, some of which my own denomination did not recognize as being valid followers of the Christ.   I could not fathom that we were the only ones who eventually "got it right" as it were...and the shaming and guilt tripping was incredible for not having a missionary zeal 100% of the time.  I've quite literally heard before that "their blood is on your hands".

This sort of shaming was also couched in number three from that post:

3.) It is better to be hot or cold in your faith, lest God SPIT YOU OUT OF HIS MOUTH!!! (Referencing Rev. 3:16)

God will punish you for not being zealous enough.  If you're not on fire for God all the time, then you have issues in your life that need confronted.  If you're not on fire for God and praising His name at the drop of a hat, you're in trouble with God.  If you're not always 100% super Christian, every waking moment, you will be spit out from His mouth...or so I was assured.  I went forward for baptism at the age of 16; having believed for years, but having been too ashamed to go forward.  I felt as though I would be judged, and to be honest, I still feel like I was judged for waiting too long.  People congratulated me, people more often than not, did it in forms of "it took you long enough" or "I always knew you weren't a Believer", because unlike my peers, I didn't go forward by the time I was seven or eight at the very latest.

The truth I've discovered in my own searching and wrestling with this Church PTSD as it were, is that the songwriter Audrey Assad is completely right.  Sometimes faith isn't a fire, sometimes it's a soft glow.  There are times I am truly passionate for Christ, where I will be able to preach up a firestorm when invited to guest speak before Catholic student groups...and then there are times where I go, "I know You're there Lord, and thanks for all You do for me, but I just don't feel it".  That's not being lukewarm, it's being honest with myself and with God; fortunately our God is a god of Love.

Meanwhile, over on Jesus Creed, a former pastor's wife ruminates on just how toxic Church People can be.  The commenters, by and large agree with her, as do I.  One commenter remarks that he's found far more "Christian" people in behavior among his atheist peers in the business world than he finds in a church pew...sadly I have to agree again.  That old song is "They shall know we are Christians by our love", but working almost every Sunday between age eighteen and age twenty-two, do you know how I grew to recognize my brothers and sisters in Christ?  By asking myself, "Who are the angriest, rudest, and most demeaning customers we have?"  On the Lord's Day, to be blunt, there are a ton of holier than thou "Christian" assholes who turn people off to the message of Christianity and to the saving Grace of Jesus the Christ.

Church People often are the worst; smiling to your face, while slipping a dagger in your back.  Professing a belief in Christ, while acting the opposite of how He told us to behave.  For an example; my mother used to volunteer in the church prayer chapel back when I was a Baptist and had two rather unfortunate run-ins with the "Worship Band" from the contemporary service we went to at the time.  Once, she went to do her shift in the prayer chapel and couldn't, because it was filled with their equipment, as they were too lazy to take their stuff back downstairs.  Another time, she was there praying for the intentions in the book left inside the Chapel, when a few people affiliated with the Worship Band came in to set up finger foods for after the service and told her to "just leave.  Some of us have actual important things to do."  Prayer was unimportant to these Church People, but snacks were.

I watched a 94 year old retiree be fired from his volunteer librarian job and the library turned into new office space for someone's relative, because "nobody reads any more".  I watched countless people be driven out, persecuted for not liking the right candidate for the new Senior Pastor.  I watched my mother be the token dissenting voice (a fact she soon recognized) on a search committee for a person that was already picked out, they just had to make a show of looking at more qualified candidates.  I watched as a man was accused, and that's the only word that fits in the way it happened, of being gay, because he wasn't married at the age of 30.  I was personally called heretic, anti-Christ, and Satanist for daring to ask questions about our beliefs, because I wanted to understand why we believed! 

And when I did leave the church, or at least stopped attending, nobody said a word.  No one voiced a concern or a care.  One less troublemaker seeking to understand our faith, one less honest man to have to contend with in all the politicking and power plays and nepotism.  They only cared when I came back to request a letter saying I had been baptized, because I was joining the Catholic Church...then they cared, enough to de-friend me en-masse on Facebook and to tell me I was going to Hell.

So yes, I grew up in the late 1980s and the 1990s Christian subcultural bubble.  And my experiences in it have indeed left me with a bit of Post Traumatic Church Syndrome.  A while ago, The Atlantic posted a piece about atheists, in particular Atheist Millennials, and why they leave the churches.  What I saw was a reflection of the road my Evangelical scarring had almost taken me down.  Here are the high points of what was discovered:

Almost all off them had gone to church.

Most of the young atheists had not started from a neutral position ideologically, but had left Christianity.  Therefore, it was almost reactionary in nature.  I would be lying if I said the thought had not occurred to me and I didn't question my God's existence due to His followers and their seething hate.

The mission and message of their churches was vague.

Again, I got called a Satanist, a heretic, and the anti-Christ for asking questions about my faith beyond the standard "Jesus died for you" and "Roman Road" lines.  The message was feel good vagueness most of the time and an altar call, and you were expected to be at that altar before you hit double digits in age, or you were written off, by and large, as a lost cause.

They felt their churches offered superficial answers to life's difficult questions.

"Sometimes God says no."  "God never gives you more than you can handle."  "God helps those who help themselves."  "When God closes a door, He opens a window."  These are all platitudes I quickly grew tired of in tough times.  Plus then you had the anti-evolution seminars and such which relied on pseudoscience, then there were no satisfactory answers for things like why Jesus was the only way?  What happened to those who died before He came to die for us?  All of these and more, and there were no real answers given.  I would have accepted an "I don't know", because that would be intellectually honest, or for why bad things happen to good people, "God let His own Son die on a cross for our sins, why should We be treated better"?

They expressed their respect for those ministers who took the Bible seriously.

We had a few pastors I respected when I was little, and you know what, they all took the Bible seriously.  The guy when I left was more worried about his annual vacation to Cancun.  This goes for televangelists and radio evangelists as well; I will sit and watch Billy Graham for hours on end, or Fulton J. Sheen, but give me one of the clowns who preaches Prosperity Gospel and I'll turn the channel.  Once, working for a school project in the church's meager archives, the workmen renovating the place went to lunch and apologized for having left a preacher on the radio while I was alone there; it wasn't a problem, I told them, I was listening to it the whole time.  I respect someone who believes truly and firmly.

Ages 14-17 were decisive.

Age 16 I was baptized.  It was also the height of when I began to question my faith due to the vitriol from Christ's followers around me.  So yep, another checkmark.

The decision to embrace unbelief was often an emotional one.

Almost anyone who embraces atheism will tell you it's a rational decision, grounded in thought.  But often times it's linked to the fact you dealt with jerks, idiots, and bullies.  The Atlantic piece shows this pretty well.  And yes, when I did contemplate leaving my faith, I was in tears, bawling, because it was my foundation, even if I wasn't always "on fire" for God.  For me, knowing God exists, is as simple as knowing I breathe air; but at the same time, it's easy to doubt Him, even though this statement is paradoxical.  More often than not, when I look to nature or the stars, I see His handiwork and wonder how anyone can believe He isn't there; but then when I deal with His Christians, in particular, Church People, it becomes so easy to doubt.  I went through enough to leave me with Post Traumatic Church Syndrome...the emotion was there, and to an extent, the desire was for a time as well.  And while I didn't embrace atheism, I got worse spiritually, before I got better.

The internet factored heavily into their conversion to atheism.

Many of the respondents in the study that The Atlantic talks about, said that it wasn't the superstar New Atheists who converted them, but rather, it was the people who actually stopped to listen and talk to them about their fears and growing lack of belief.  I was blessed in this stage of things, because I had a number of Neo Pagan friends...and only one of them tried to convert me to her "side" as it were.  The others fought for Christianity and my staying a Christian than 99% of the Christians I knew, including the ones who knew I was struggling.  

People who worshiped Morrigan, Brigid, Bacchus, Odin, and Thor and so many others were there telling me not to give up on Christ, just because of His followers.  They were recommending books to me:  C.S. Lewis, G.K. Chesteron, Archbishop Sheen, Billy Graham, and so many others.  They would spend hours on end listening to me rant and replying kindly.  Then if I had an issue with a doctrine or belief, where my former church had reacted with anger to stamp things down, the Pagans helped me research why that was believed that way.  Some of the greatest defenses of Christianity I've heard in my life, came from someone who worships at the foot of a goddess.  

And you know what?  God used them to help me stay, along with their free will and their friendship towards me.  I paid that forward too, to a young atheist who lost her entire social support network when she stopped believing in God.  I gave her boyfriend tips on how to coax her out of her shell, get her back on her feet, help build up a new system of social supports, because what she needed wasn't a firm foundation in her new belief, but the knowledge that people still care.  Sorting out faith could come later.  Her boyfriend asked why I did what I did, when he knew I was probably (and was) praying for her return to Christ, and the answer was simple enough.  "Some people did the same thing for me and they didn't share my faith, and now I'm in the position to do the same."  Yes, it's what God would want, yes it was the moral thing to do, but it was done from compassion as a person who experienced the same compassion.

I guess this is where I wrap things up.  I'm scarred emotionally and spiritually, but I'm happy where I am now.  I'm Catholic.  I'm encouraged to question and find answers.  I've got the Sacraments.  I've got the liturgy.  I've got a social support structure.  And most importantly...I've got Jesus.[/spoiler]

[BG45]

Started looking at Catholic Churches in the town of one place I really hope calls me back.  I was amazed to see that one offers a Latin Mass.  Googled the group that runs it and how about nope.  Turns out they splintered from the SSPX because the SSPX was too modernist.

 

To quote EWTN:

The Society of St. Pius V (which later splintered further) maintains that many Catholic bishops no longer adhere to the Catholic faith but instead profess a new modernist religion. They also claim that the possibility that the See of Peter has been vacant since the death of Pius XII is an open question.

 

This belief that they are the last bastion of the true Catholic Church, and their doubt regarding the validity of ordinations performed under the new rites, probably explain why our reader was told that she would have to first confess with one of their priests before receiving Communion.