Postmodern Renaissance Culture Revolutionary

Historical information is here. Part 1 is here. I wish I knew why this was so powerful for me. I can't explain it. I am not Japanese. As far as I know, none of my ancestors was Japanese. But I have always had a deep appreciation of the history, culture, and people of Japan. It is one of the few places I want to visit before I am unable to travel anymore. Hearing about the Executive Order 9066, the displacement of people just because of their ancestry, and the experiences of their lives in the camps, it all hits me very hard. Visiting the Amache Museum in Granada was deeply interesting. I have to say a huge, "Thank you" to Mr. John Hopper. He is a social studies teacher at the high school and oversees the Amache Preservation Society. He drove down and opened the museum for us. He also took time to speak with us about the history of the camp and some of the artifacts in the museum. He risked being late for a meeting to share with us. The museum doesn't look like...

You can find some historical background at this here. Amache is a Cheyenne name. It was the name of the daughter of One-Eye, a Cheyenne chief. One-Eye, Ochinee or Lone Bear, was killed at the Sand Creek Massacre. Amache married a local rancher and raised a family in the region around Granada. The camp was officially called the Granada Relocation Center. Amache became the unofficial name to differentiate the camp from the town that lies just outside the boundaries of the camp.   When you research the history of the Amache Camp, you learn some fascinating details. At the time, it was the tenth largest city in Colorado. It housed almost 7,400 people at its most populated. They had a fire and police department. It had its own "day-care", elementary, and high school. It was the only one of 10 internment camps for the Japanese in America that experienced no riots or large scale disturbances. It had the highest percentage of volunteers who joined the military and most of ...

In our household, we have a set of rules. These rules have been learned through experience. They have been proven through testing and trials. They stand as timeless and proven. They apply at every age level and in every circumstance. Rule #1 - Don't be stupid. Rule #2 - People are stupid. Rule #3 - I will defend your honor but I won't defend your stupidity. Today I have found an addition that meets the previous qualities: Rule #4 - The will to be stupid is a very powerful force. Rule #5 - The ability to overcome Rule #1 is to conquer Rule #4. (Thanks go out to Lois McMaster Bujold for Rule #4 and #5.)

You can read the historical background here. The history of this event was virtually ignored among public attention. It took over 100 years for attention to develop. Initial interests were to establish a historical marker. In 1998 there was action taken to establish a historical site at the location. Eventually a National Park Service Historical Site was established. Even the United Methodist Church began to address the connection it had to the events.  In 2012, the General Conference of the United Methodist Church adopted an Act of Repentance Toward Healing Relationships with Indigenous Peoples. It recognized that there are times in our history as the UMC when our forefathers and mothers were complicit in perpetrating or condoning acts that were not examples of Christian charity. But even these efforts have not increased public awareness of the events of that tragedy. My trip to Sand Creek was made with a friend and colleague in ministry. We set out to visit Sand Creek...

The Sand Creek Experience I have always had a deep fascination with “The Old West”. As a history geek, I read about it all through my childhood. As a young man, I participated with a gunslinger group doing cowboy cinematic style shootouts across Oklahoma. I still enjoy reading and discovering new places in the Old West. One aspect of the Old West experience that I have found most interesting, and powerful, is the Plains Indian Wars. During the Civil War, western expansion encountered the people and tribes of Plains. These included the Cheyenne, Arapaho, Souix, and many other cultures. They traveled from what would be the Dakotas and Montana in the North to Texas and Oklahoma in the South. As more people moved from the East into the Plains, they began to settle on lands that the tribes who traveled across those lands used for hunting and seasonal habitations. This led to conflict that was sometimes violent. Territorial and elected governors, expressing concern over “...

A few days ago, in the midst of a contentious Presidential election year, candidate Donald Trump decided to voice opinion about comments that were made by Pope Francis. The Pope commented on Trump's campaign promise to build a wall to slow the movement of illegal/undocumented persons into the United States through the Mexico/U.S. border. In the course of those comments, the Pope stated that anyone who builds walls instead of bridges is not a Christian. Trump fired back at the Pope. Trump called the comments disgraceful. Specifically, Trump felt that as a religious leader, the Pope had no grounds for claiming that Trump is not a Christian. Since that time, Trump has backed away from the heat of an argument. He responded to Anderson Cooper about the remarks by saying that the comments may have been softer than the news media had reported. He even made the claims that he liked the Pope and complimented the Pope's work. Here is where I need to step in. As I read it, Donald ...

It sounds like a sinister plot device from an action movie. But it was a very real declaration within United States history. But it was not a sinister plot device. It did, however, represent a decidedly unjust reaction by the Federal Government toward an entire race of people. And it justified widespread racism, fear, and hatred toward people who were natural-born and legal citizens of this nation. On December 7, 1941, the day that President Franklin Roosevelt called a "day that would live in infamy", the Empire of Japan launched an attack on Pearl Harbor Naval Station and the various air fields across the island of Oahu. The response to that attack was to declare war on the Empire of Japan. It brought the United States into World War II. Two months later, President Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066. The declared purpose of that order was to provide for the security of certain regions along the west coast of the United States. Following the events at Pearl Harbor, the...

A couple of weeks ago, I was invited to participate in a meditation on the opening verses of the Gospel According to John. The lectio divina is a Christian meditative practice that is quite ancient. The process of meditation involves a focus on a portion of Scripture. The invitation to focus on the 4th Gospel was timely: I was beginning a sermon series on that book that next Sunday. The preparation for the series had already taken me over the opening verses. And the verses are so familiar, "In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, the Word was God," "the Word took flesh and tabernacled among us...". As I confessed in the opening sermon of that series, I am sometimes guilty of skimming over the familiar. But the invitation to meditate on those so familiar words, to slow down and truly let them soak into my mind, heart, and spirit, brought me to a moment where a clear thought floated to the surface. John 1:3 - All things came into being through him...

I have spent some time pondering how to win a war against terrorists. I think there are three possible strategies, that conveniently fall into line with a good way, a bad way, and an ugly way. One brief note of clarification. This is a war on terrorists, not terrorism. Terrorism is a tactic used by groups fighting from an ideology. You cannot fight terrorism. It has been used from the beginning of warfare and will be used until war has been ended. This is a fight against people, human beings. They are not monsters. They are not inhuman. They do deeds that are considered monstrous and inhumane, but they themselves are flesh and blood. One brief disclaimer. The bad and ugly strategies will be grounded in historical use. I am not claiming them to be "the best" way. I am just stating how similar tactics have been used in the past. The Ugly I will start with the ugliest tactic: the U.S. war against the Plains tribes. When westward expansion brought American and immigrant se...

This weekend, the world turned its attention to Paris after multiple terrorist attacks killed about 130 people in separate venues. ISIS has been identified as the group responsible. This makes the third attack in 2 weeks that ISIS claims responsibility for perpetrating. It began with the downing of a Russian passenger plane. Then, in practically back to back events, locations in Beirut and Paris were attacked. My sadness is not as much with the loss of lives in Paris. I am saddened by that. What saddens me more than anything is that Beirut has disappeared from public consciousness. It gets a passing mention, as if we were well passed the pain and power of that attack. The Beirut attack, a double bombing by ISIS, was just one day before the Paris attacks. 43 people were killed in that attack. But the world did not leap to the defense of Palestine or the people of Beirut. There were no showers of support for the people of that nation. I am saddened that those who were attacked in Bei...

This is my Swiss Army knife. I have carried it since college (over 20 years). It is in my pocket almost every day. If it isn't, I probably switched jeans/shorts in a hurry. It isn't a fancy one. It has a couple of blades, a couple of screwdrivers, a pair of small pliers, and a punch. I carry it because of MacGyver. I loved that show. But I also carry it because it offers me tools to use in a pinch. I love my Swiss Army knife. But I wonder if it is time to retire it? I would really like to have a Leatherman. In fact, I really want one of these: I like it because it has more tools. The pliers are a little stronger. There are more blade varieties. The screwdriver has interchangeable bits to fit different sizes. It seems like it has more tools and better tools. It would be nice to have a multi-tool that can do everything I need it to. So I wonder if it is time to give up the Swiss Army to better serve my needs. Swiss Army Pastor As I wonder that, I am sitting at the c...

I am interrupting my string of game notes from Dungeons and Dragons to write something that seems to be relevant to a broader cultural issue. This week there is has been a couple of public incidents where apologies were issued. Joy Behar on The View, made comments about Miss America contestant, and nurse, Kelley Johnson. The next couple of days were filled with the retractions, re-framing, and re-positioning necessary to smooth the waters. Stephen Amell (currently one of my favorite actors on television), made a comment that was leaped upon by his social media followers. His response was to vacate his very active social media presence for a time. Ahmed Mohammed, a 14 year old high school student, made a clock from scratch and took it to school. The school misunderstood it's nature and declared a bomb threat. He was removed from class, detained in a room, interrogated without representation or parental presence, and branded as a terrorist. This got nation-wide media attention...