Tuesday, June 29, 2010

The Judicious Mr. Hooker

Over on HOBD, Michael Russell has announced the publication of the first of four volumes of a "new edition" of The Works of Richard Hooker. Michael is the author of Hooker's Blueprint, "which is essentially a Cliff Notes of the Laws [of Ecclesiastical Polity.] " The new edition includes the text of the Keble's 1836 edition of Hooker, as well as the Blueprint. Volume I can be ordered at CreateSpace.

Just the other day, I said to my slef that I ought to check and see if I could find a cheap copy of volume II of the Everyman's Library edition of the Laws at one the internet booksellers. It just seemed to me that I might be successful, and in fact I was. As it turned out, it was cheaper to order both volumes than just volume II (I got it for under $15, including shipping.) The Everyman's Library edition also uses the Keble text and notes. Here at Heart Lake, I have three volume copy of the third editon of Keble's Hooker, dated 1855, and inscribed to "Frederick Whiting, with W. Wayte's best wishes, on his leaving Eton. December, 1853. " The leather-looking bindings are in bad shape, but the text itself looks pristine. I doubt Frederick gave it much use.

At home I have a two volume edition of Keble's Hooker, in a similar condition, but I'll have to wait until I get home to identify it more clearly. I also have volume one of the Everyman's Library edition. I have wanted volume two for a long time, because it is a very easy way to read Book V of the Laws, which is the most fun. Now I'll have it.

I also have a copy of Michael's Blueprint, which I ordered because it was recommended to me by Grandmere Mimi, to whom it was recommended in turn by Tobias Haller.

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Gay Pride Day and Gas Drilling

I'm posting this from our cottage at Heart Lake. I had to make a choice (as I do most years) between being here and being in New York for the LGBT Pride march the last weekend in June. On the last Saturday of June every year, there is an opening brunch followed by an informational meeting of the Heart Lake Association. It's an important time both to greet our neighbors and to get some news.

The big thing that's happening around here is gas drilling -- to extract lots of natural gas from the Marcellus shale that underlies this area. In orderto extract the gas, it is necessary to use a process known as hydraulic fracturing or fracking for short. Fracking involves the injection of a large amount of water and chemicals into the ground. The chemicals used are toxic and if there is a spill they can ruin streams. Even if there isn't a spill they can contaminate groundwater and ruin wells.

In Dimock township, less than 15 miles from here (shorter as the crow flies), there have been a number of accidents -- both wells and streams have been ruined. This afternoon, Liz is going on a tour of some sites organized by a progressive neighbor (they're rare here) and conducted by an environmental research organization.

I'm sorry not to be in New York for the Pride March, but I'm not sorry to be here. This morning we went to the Heart Lake United Methodist Church, our summer church. They are in the process of deciding what to do about their future -- I may write a little about that at another time. As part of the sermon, the pastor asked members of the congregation to say something about the meaning of "church." There were several thoughtful comments, mostly focusing on church as a place for worship, fellowship and taking a holy time away from daily concerns. Then Judy mentioned seeing a story on the news about a church that removed the cross on its steeple in order to be open to "people of other religions, gay people, and what not." The pastor commented that to his mind then its not a church. I would agree that it's not a Christian church any longer, but that's not what caught my attention. It was Judy's mention of gay people. Maybe she picked it up from the news program, but there's no mention of gay people in either of the stories turned up by Google News -- and one is on an avowedly conservative website. In case you're interested, the church was Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan and is now the C# Exchange. The pastor, Ian Lawton, is a former Anglican priest from the diocese of Sidney in Australia. If you google him you'll find out more.

That's all for now. Happy Gay Day.

Wednesday, June 09, 2010

More about Monringside

NOTE: Posted witout links temporarily

I met the other night with a few friends here in Mornngsdie Gardens who were dismayed by my support of Glenn for president. The outcome of the organizational meeting was a clean sweep of officers. My friends were especially distressed that I had voted for Marlo as first vice president. They felt that as an ethical person, I should not have voted for Marlo because of what they perceived as his unprincipled attack on Chi (see LINK Board Affairs) in the weeks leading up to the election of board members. I did not have a good answer when I met with them, but I have thought about it since and I conclude that it is exactly because I am an ethical person that I could not automatically consider Marlo ineligible for office. I’ll explian, but first ...

Having decided that I was going to support Glenn for president, I also decided that it was appropriate to support Glenn’s preferences for the other officers. I would have preferred having Jerry as one of the vice presidents, but for reasons I cannot go into on this blog, in the eyes of the Big-endians on the board, there was a serious cloud over Jerry’s head. If I had voted for Jerry, it would have driven a wedge between me and the Big-endians on the obard at the outset of the year.

As for Marlo, the only thing against him is a tendency to go to the cooperators with matters that should have been dealt with on the board, as in his going to the cooperators with information about Chi. In the Chi matter, the board condemned his action, as I wrote at LINK. For me, that ends it – he has been rebuked, whether or not he acknowledges that his action was improper, and now we move ahead. The improper part of that action, by the way, was not the “going to the cooperators” but the revealing of information that he would not have had if he had not been a board member and that was therefore privileged.

As for “going to the cooperators,” on at least two instances this past year board members sent memos to the cooperators on matters that should have have been taken up by the board. In each case, they claimed that they had tried to bring up the matter and had failed – that in fact they were “stonewalled.”. While there are different perceptions as to whether a serious enough attempt was made to bring the matters to the board, the fact remains that in each case the matters were indeed brought to the board members’ attention before a board meetig and were not taken up at that board meeting – so the claim of being “stonewalled” arises out of genuine experience.

It is still true that the level of mistrust on the board is high, as is the level of mistrust among those cooperators who are partisan. I know that Glenn hopes to lower the level of mistrust and I intend to help as much as I can. But it’s a tough row to hoe and I am not certain we will succeed.