May 2023 - Page 5 of 7 - Ramblin' with Roger

Practice Joy

Karen Oliveto

Since Easter, our pastors have offered a series of sermons called Practice Joy. The anthems and hymns have been joy-based.

Still, sometimes I forget about doing joy. I read the news or watch it on television and become distraught. It’s not just the latest shooting, but about some state legislator from Tennessee (I think) who says we can’t do anything about it. Or the book bans that are designed to “protect” our kids from becoming transvestite Latinx bisexuals spouting Critical Race Theory. When I see this, I curse at my television, quite literally.

But two events last weekend reminded me of the power of joy. One was the sermon, tied to Romans 12:9-21. Specifically, in verse 15, “Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.” There is power in not going through the pain alone; there is even a reflective joy.

The other was that my wife and I attended a gathering at the First United Methodist Church of Schenectady. The congregation was celebrating its 27th Anniversary as a Reconciling Congregation. For those not versed in UMC lingo, “All persons are recipients of God’s love and grace; God intends the church to be a community which embodies love, grace and justice for all people as a sign of God’s covenant. We, therefore, will continue to seek and welcome persons of any age, gender, race, ethnic background, sexual orientation, physical or mental ability as full participants in our community of faith.”

The speaker

The speaker was Bishop Karen P. Oliveto of the Mountain Sky Conference, the first openly LGBTQAI Bishop in the United Methodist Church. She may be the most optimistic pastor I’ve encountered, and I’ve known a few.

After speaking for a while, she asked us to discuss the things that distress us with a neighbor. This was very easy. After another bit of her sharing, she called on us to share what we did to bring ourselves joy. This was more difficult.

After the talk, my wife and Karen got reacquainted. Karen is the sister of one of my wife’s best friends since college. Karen had spoken in Oneonta, about an hour from here, at some point pre-COVID, but I couldn’t make it.

On the lookout

After the talk, I started looking for every opportunity to find joy. We went out to a diner and had cheeseburgers. Of late, we rarely have beef, so it was terrific.

Then I went home. A blanket had covered my stuffed animals because I was tidying up. But they gave me joy – I was reminded of this when a young girl at the Karen Oliveto talk mentioned hers – so I needed to liberate them. One of my favorites is Lenny. He’s named after Leonard Bernstein and has the sweetest roar. We hung out on the sofa and watched TV.

The next day at church, there were several opportunities for humor. Like many funny things, the humor is diminished in the retelling. One encounter involved pizza, inside out.

Don’t forget to practice joy. It’s easy to forget.

Movie review: Air (2023)

Michael Jordan’s footwear

On the surface, there is no reason the movie Air (2023) should work. It’s a film about the inner workings of Nike, a sneaker company, a clear #3 in the basketball world, trying to get players to endorse and wear their product. It sounds as though it could be boring.

Yet I was captivated at the onset, from the opening montage of 1984 images – “Where’s the beef,” Mr. T on the A-Team – to the musical selections. The key, though, was driven by Alex Convery in his debut as a screenwriter. The dialogue was fresh without being affected.

Sonny Vaccaro (Matt Damon) is a middle-aged, overweight guy with a radical plan. Instead of trying to sign three or four rookie prospects to put on the foot apparel as usual, Nike should commit the entire budget to one player. Sonny violates corporate protocol to try to get Michael Jordan to agree to sign with them.

While getting some support from his colleague Howard White (Chris Tucker), Sonny is getting resistance from his boss Rob Strasser (Jason Bateman), and especially Nike head honcho Phil Knight (Ben Affleck.) To contact Michael, he has to deal with the athlete’s mother Doloris (Viola Davis).

There’s no need to fear

This is a sports story about an underdog. But the underdog is not Michael, though the actual player had been underestimated in the past. The underdog is Nike, and especially Sonny.

Interestingly, the character Michael himself barely appears in the film. The creators decided, probably rightly, that the actor would be unfavorably compared with the real deal. Thus the shots of Michael (Damien Young) are usually from his back. He barely speaks. Film clips of Michael are used, especially near the end.

The acting is solid throughout, and director Ben Affleck keeps the mostly talk-driven film moving. It was reviewed well.

BTW, at least seven movies on the IMDb titled Air in this century alone exist. I saw the MJ-related Air at the Madison Theatre in Albany at a Wednesday afternoon matinee on the last day it played there, along with two other people.

Trailers

Before the movie, there were trailers for three movies. One was for the Dungeons and Dragons film, and another was for Guardians of the Galaxy 3.

The first was the red band trailer for Sisu. “When an ex-soldier who discovers gold in the Lapland wilderness tries to take the loot into the city, Nazi soldiers led by a brutal SS officer battle him.” It was quite violent; you can find it on YouTube, but I’m not linking it.

From the New York Times: “The Finnish way of life is summed up in ‘sisu,’ a trait said to be part of the national character. The word roughly translates to “grim determination in the face of hardships,” such as the country’s long winters: Even in adversity, a Finn is expected to persevere, without complaining.”

Serendipity at the bus stop

pleasant interactions

On a recent busy day in April, I experienced serendipity at the bus stop.

After my Bible study, I took the bus to the library. My pal Patricia was talking about her book about helping chronically ill people. This was much more interesting and affirming than you might think.

I walked down to the Board of Education building to get an absentee ballot for the school and library budget vote on May 16. Leaving the building, I saw the #18 bus rolling by, and there wouldn’t be another one for a half hour.

My friend David came by. I hadn’t seen him in a few years, even though he lives in town. That is until March, when he and his wife saw the Sister Act at Albany High School, as we did.

He was coming back from serving on a grand jury. I surprised him by knowing that there were 23 people empaneled. I didn’t realize that they only need 18 to make decisions. He’s been selected regularly for various petit and grand jury services.

This led to a conversation about my limited previous jury selections in 2007 and 2014. Hmm. If I were a betting man, I would guess I’d get called again this year.

The ‘burbs

I took the bus to Delmar to pick up two chicken dinners, a fundraiser for the FOCUS Churches. After picking up the meals, I got to talk with Fred, the executive director, and a former neighbor.

Fred recalled a specific incident from nearly two decades ago. He was walking his daughter, who was about a week old. Her name is the same as my wife’s. My wife was about four weeks pregnant then, though we didn’t tell him about that until some weeks later. It was a fond memory.

As I took the bus home, Rebecca, who I used to enjoy frequently seeing on my work days, boarded. Her son went to my college alma mater. We had a brief but lovely chat.

Sometimes, I have to pay attention to the good stuff. They’re not big, shiny events but pleasant interactions that hadn’t occurred as often during the pandemic. So I honor them.

Midnight, the demented cat

the perils of doing laundry

I have written before about our demented cat, Midnight. In some ways, this is not a great photo. On the other hand, it’s rather representative of his demeanor. His arm – OK, front leg – hangs off his loft as though he were Hugh Hefner holding a cigarette at the Playboy Mansion.

Notice the deformed window treatment? That’s the result of Midnight either chewing on the curtains or kneading them. And there are three or four of them in similar conditions. My wife has talked about replacing the curtains, but I said that there’s no point unless we get something made of stainless steel.

When we have people over, he goes to the basement. There are only a handful of people who he won’t harass. And when something I can’t quite ascertain sets him off, the target of his wrath is me.

Domestic chores terrorist

Back in October, I was taking a basket of laundry down to the basement. There was a bottle of TIDE detergent that was next to the doorway, so I grabbed it to take it downstairs. Midnight, sitting on a chair ten feet away, suddenly started yowling and hissing at me. I don’t know if it was the basket or the TIDE that ticked him off, but someone dubbed him a male chauvinist feline because he never bothered my wife or daughter when they transported the laundry.

For the next three days, I was his enemy. I avoided him when I could. My wife would feed him. And I started carrying around a tambourine. Why a tambourine, you may ask? Because carrying around a vacuum cleaner was too heavy. I tried to talk to him, but when he got too close and too scary, I’d rattle the instrument, and he’d run off.

Where’s the feeder guy?

But then, a few days later, he started missing me. “Where’s the one who usually feeds me?” First, he’d get proximate to me, then a little closer. I’d go downstairs to feed him, percussion in hand, and he’d be okay. Then he became desperate for my affection. “Pet me!” And “pick me up and scratch me under my chin.” He needs to be near me and hates it when I close the office door, but I can’t write and tend to him simultaneously.

And it’s all good. Well, except for the time I was walking toward the sofa, and he ran in front of me. He’s ALWAYS getting underfoot, but I usually anticipate it. This time, I must have stepped on him, although I didn’t feel him underneath. He yowled and dug his claw into my foot. But this was a short-lived irritation for him.

Still, when he’s on the sofa and someone is petting him, he’ll suddenly bite them. He did this to my wife and tried to do the same to me. He is a demented cat.

Sunday Stealing: Songs

NOT Constantinople

This week’s Sunday Stealing is right up my alley: Songs—links to all.

1. A song with a food name.

Lady Marmalade – LaBelle: “Voulez-vous coucher avec moi, ce soir?”

2. A song with an animal in it.

A Horse With No Name – America. America played at my college in late 1971 or early 1972. The charge was fifty cents, but I didn’t go. Weeks later, the song was #1 on the pop charts.

3. A song about a bird

Three Little Birds – Bob Marley. “Every little thing is gonna be all right.”

4. A song about a dog

Hey Bulldog – The Beatles. From the Yellow Submarine film

5. A song mentioning a cat

Cat Food – King Crimson. I sing it to my cats each time I feed them.

6. A song listing a character from Wizard of Oz

If I Only Had A Brain – Domini Forster. This was from a YouTube search.

7. A late-night driving song

Keep On Running – the Spencer Davis Group. This running song has a driving feel.

City of Brotherly Love

8. A song from a movie

Philadelphia – Neil Young. Bruce Springsteen received an Oscar for his song from the movie Philadelphia, entitled Streets of Philadelphia. But the Neil song, right at the end of the film, always gets me, and Springsteen intimated that he thought Neil’s song was better in his acceptance speech.

9. A guilty pleasure song

Waterloo – ABBA. Truth to tell, I don’t believe in “guilty pleasure” music

10. A song about friends

Friends – Elton John. This could have been the movie song as well.

11. A song that is about summertime

Summertime Blues – Eddie Cochran. WAY back in 2006, I wrote a blog post about a mixed CD I made about summer. I own at least three versions of this song, including Blue Cheer and The Who.

12. A song that needs to be played more on the radio

Love In Them There Hills – the Pointer Sisters. That said, I don’t listen much to music on the radio.

13. A song about drugs or alcohol

Demon Alcohol – the Kinks, from the great Muswell Hiillbillies album

14. A song you would sing at karaoke

Take Me To The River – Talking Heads. I picked their version because I couldn’t do Cousin Al justice.

15. A song from the year you were born

Istanbul (Not Constantinople) – The Four Lads. This was famously covered by They Might Be Giants.