Spring Break in the southwest

We finally got to take a Spring Break vacation - first time in more than 10 years that I haven't been singing on St. Patrick's Day! So we flew out to visit Dad (Steve) and Cynthia, aka Boppa and Grammy, in Rio Rancho, NM for 10 days. Dave had a conference in Phoenix for the first half and then joined us.

It was so great to spend time with them - we only get to see them about once a year. Katie really enjoyed being with her grandparents, and even managed to be less scared of the dogs by the end of the week!

In addition to visiting we did a lot of sightseeing. We went to several museums - Katie's favorite was the Explora Science Center and Children's Museum (here are Katie and Boppa at the light table). We spent a whole day in Santa Fe - how beautiful! I can see why it is such a tourist magnet. And the three Kelleys went hiking on our last day to see volcanos and petroglyphs. Very cool.

Oh, and the fantastic sunshine and blue skies.....

More ballet

I keep forgetting to post this video, and I finally got permission from my friend Emily - her daughter Kate is the other ballerina dancing with Katie. Katie is still ballet-obsessed, dancing all the time and watching as much Angelina Ballerina as I will let her (not much). She was disappointed to take time off for Christmas break. But they start their recital practice in January, which will make up for a lot, I think.

I hope this brings you a little holiday joy!

Halloween weekend, part 3 (of 3)

The third part of the weekend was my reunion Sunday afternoon with the Dominants - my high school show choir. About two dozen of us from the 1981-85 era showed up and we had a wonderful time. I can't believe it's been nearly 20 years since I've seen most of these old friends, and it was like no time had elapsed at all. We even looked the same. Amazing what tricks the mind can play....

So I stole my old friend Lisa Offley Novitsky's photo from Facebook (have to give credit to Bill Putnam, who took it with Lisa's nice professional camera) - I was having too much fun visiting and reminiscing to take many photos of my own. But I had to share this one of Jill, Lisa, Sara, and Sara - just like it was 1983. What a great group we had!

Halloween weekend, part 2 (of 3)

I guess this should really be titled "Rally to Restore Sanity" because that was the big event for us Halloween weekend - yes, we really went. It was crazy!! Not the people - everyone was fantastic (we didn't even see anybody smoking until after the rally was over, even though we were outside) - but the sheer size of the rally and what that meant for getting there and being there.

We rode the Metro, which took forever, and got there on the late side. OK, that wasn't all Metro's fault - you know us. We walked up the National Mall as far as we could, and still were so far back we could catch glimpses of the last jumbo screen, but that was it. Katie took photos from her periodic perch on Dave's shoulders:



Katie was really good, too. When she got bored, she read books at our feet. But she did pay attention - catch her dancing to the O-Jays and "Love Train"!



The signs were hilarious (here's a picture of my favorite), the talent on the stage (we could hear almost everything) was phenomenal, and - Fox and MSNBC pundits be darned - the rally really did have a message that was terrific. Not that it made any difference in the election, but maybe someday....

Halloween weekend, part 1 (of 3)

When you have a kid, Halloween is a totally different holiday. It will never be my favorite, but Katie thinks it's great. So we go to every event we can (trying to limit the candy at each, if at all possible). This year she wore a different costume for each of the events. Luckily none of them took much work -- or expense -- on my part.

The Sunday before Halloween is a kid party at Bucknell, put on by student groups. Crafts, haunted houses, games, and lots of candy possibilities. Katie was Belle. She did her own hair.

The Friday before Halloween is the Kinderfolk Halloween party - very cute. It starts with a parade around the block, then the kids play games (and the parents go out for coffee!), then we all come back to watch the kids sing Halloween songs for us. And eat, of course. Katie was a black-and-white cat - she designed her own costume, using a cat tail I made for myself in 1988 (can't believe I still had it).

This year, Halloween being on Sunday was a little tricky, since we were in Virginia in the afternoon (see part 3 of this blog section). We made it back to go trick-or-treating with a horde of neighborhood children. Thanks to Dave's mom for being home so we could both go with her; it was hilarious to watch the kids race from house to house. Katie had planned all weekend to be Cinderella, but ended up as Princess Tiana. No photos, unfortunately, since it was dark by the time we got back.

Katie has already laid out her costume for the next four years. I'll have to write it down somewhere and see if she remembers.

Letter to the Editor

Last Sunday our local newspaper published a front-page article about a former radical Muslim-turned-Christian and his remarks to an area church congregation. The article was a rehash of his remarks, which were pretty incendiary and awful. Dave was so mad he could hardly speak. I went to my own UU church that morning (having not read the whole thing yet), and lots of people there were that mad, too.

So Dave and I wrote a letter to the editor. It took us nearly a week, and then another week for them to print it, but they did (Friday, Oct. 22). They took out two large paragraphs (it was longer than their guidelines, I admit), but left most of it. We've gotten amazing response from friends about it, for which we are grateful.

But I wanted to put up the whole letter, including the paragraphs that didn't get printed. So here it is - enjoy. :)

To the Editor:

We are appalled at the front-page coverage in Sunday’s Daily Item that was given to the hate- and fear-filled presentation by the former self-proclaimed radical Muslim who has converted to Christianity. It is bad enough that his remarks, at least as reported in the article, were one-sided, incomplete, and inaccurate, but for the Daily Item to give him so much attention without any counterpoint is irresponsible.

While it is true that there are radical Muslims who seek to destroy Christianity and Judaism, it is not true that mainstream Islam as taught in the Quran does so. Dr. Shayestah learned his variety of Islam from radicals, so it stands to reason that that is the Islam he knows. But just as members of the Ku Klux Klan and Aryan Nation profess a distorted form of Christianity, the extremist movement in Iran of which Dr. Shayestah was a part espouses a distorted form of Islam. Mainstream Islam holds that peace and harmony are the highest of values. The word “Islam” comes from an Arabic word that means to submit to and obey the will of God.

Another inaccuracy is his characterization of Allah as a “man-made god”. Al-Lah is the Arabic word for God, as revealed to the prophet Muhammad, just as Yahweh and God are other cultures’ names for the revealed one true God. Although the names are different, the god is the same. Muslims pray to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob just as Jews and Christians do. Although Muslims do not believe Jesus is the son of God, they do revere him as a great prophet.

He also makes the same mistake that many people make of selecting bits and pieces of a holy book and using them to paint a religion with a broad brush. Applying the same logic to Judaism and Christianity would lead one to conclude that the God of Abraham encourages second-class status for women, slavery, human sacrifice, and genocide (the parting of the Red Sea and the Great Flood stories come to mind). But that is not the loving God that is the centerpiece, with his son Jesus, of modern Christianity. A whole reading of the Bible gives another picture. Likewise, a whole reading of the Quran gives another picture of Muhammad’s teachings: one of peace, unity, equality for women, and welcome to strangers, to name a few.

We live in an increasingly connected world, one that more and more is falling into fear from radicals who claim theirs is the only true religion, the only true way, the only way to live. Wouldn’t it be better for all of us in the long run to learn more about each others’ humanity and to find the beliefs, values, and ways of treating other people that we hold in common? Fear-mongering will only serve to destroy us. Love, as taught by the Muslim, Jewish, and Christian God, is the better path.

David and Sara Kelley
Lewisburg

Katie meets her congressman

Yes, Katie got to shake hands with our congressman (Chris Carney) tonight. It was very nice, actually; before he tried to meet me, he bent down and asked her name. She told him "Katie", so he held out his hand and said "Hi, I'm Chris." It made her comfortable enough with the crowd of adult legs to stay through the whole meet-and-greet-and-pep talk at the local Democratic headquarters.

The thing that made the biggest impression on me (other than introducing himself to the kids) was when Carney mentioned his wife, who we all know is undergoing breast cancer treatment. It was clear she and his kids are his number one priority. He said he wants to beat his opponent for a lot of reasons, but the main one is for the charge that he skipped out on important votes in Washington to go home for a few days. In actuality he went home to be with his wife when she had surgery. That kind of accusation really says volumes about his opponent, and made us all feel that it was worth defeating him for that reason alone. Jeez.

On the way home, I got to give Katie a lesson on how democracy works. Cool. And it will be fun to let her punch the ballot for Chris in three weeks.