Einstein

There is a cartoon I remember, one of those simple cartoons of decades ago. A character finds "a loose thread" on another character and begins to pull it. First is unravels the other characters clothes. Then the body starts unraveling in one continuous thread. In the end, there is nothing but a thread -- the character is no longer there.

I like to think of the last end of the thread as the "starting point" of the character. Rather than a physical point, I think each person has a point which might be called the intellectual center. If we trace all ideas, all thoughts back logically, we come to that point.

For me that point is the oneness of God.

Since I was educated as a scientist, and since the first educators were a priest and a nun, I have a seamless understanding of creation. There is no boundary between science and faith.

As a result I integrate my method of science with that of pursuing faith. Hence the idea of using a tour in space and welding it to one in time.

Let us start the journey in the next entry.

more rest

Tonight I went to St Peter Chanel parish for the memorial Mass.

I feel empty tonight. A good homily, yet ...

I have been unable to continue the journey. But when I do, we will journey not in space but time, with a tip of the hat to Albert Einstein.

requiescant in pacem

http://money.aol.com/news/articles/_a/ky-gunman-argued-with-boss-over-phone/n20080625205109990006

The tour - part 5

Atlanta is a city of history - of violence.

The old city was burned by General Sherman during the civil war.

In 1906 there was a mass civil disturbance referred to as the Atlanta Race Riot. It is estimated that there were between twenty-five to forty African American deaths. It was confirmed that there were only two white deaths.

Altanta is the birthplace and now the resting place of Martin Luther King, Jr, a man whose lived ended in a crescendo of violence.

Finally, in 1996, at Centennial Olympic Park, a bomb exploded, killing a woman.

By no means are these the only incidents of violence in Atlanta's or N.GA's history.

Let us rest again and consider where we have been.

The tour - part 4

Going east on Roswell road you come to the Big Chicken at the intersection w/Cobb Pky (US 41). Turning right to south into Atlanta, you pass through a prosperous area, cross under a major freeway (I285), pass through an even more prosperous area. As you go down a long hill the road narrows. Sidewalks and shoulders go away. There is a narrow bridge over a stream, the Chattahoochie river, four 9 foot lanes.

During the years 1979-81, a series of murders of young blacks, some children, occurred in Atlanta. This river is one of the places where bodies were found. A person was convicted. See the links below for more information.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,198884,00.html
http://www.geocities.com/son_of_kingdavid/wayne-william_case.html
http://socialistworker.org/2004-2/500Supp/500S_198107_Atlanta.shtml

Let us again stop and rest.

requiescat in pacem - the funeral

Elliot, you have some father. Few man have the faith and fortitude to sing at the funeral of their dead 14-yr-old son.

But Linley did - beautifully - the Our Father and another song.

You will rest in peace -- we hope your parents can have peace also.

How will they be in a week, a month, a year, a decade?

We will visit this later.

It is time to return to the tour.

requiescat in pacem

Truck slams house, kills teen

Suspected drunken driver crashes through room in west Cobb County. Woman faces eight charges, including vehicular homicide.

http://www.mdjonline.com/content/index/showcontentitem/area/1/section/15/item/112702.html

The tour - part 3

If we go east from downtown Marietta GA on Roswell St, at 1200 we come to a historical marker.

On April 26, 1913, Confederate Memorial Day, a young girl was murdered and possibly raped at the National Pencil Factory in Atlanta, where she worked. The manager of the factory, Leo Frank, was convicted of the murder.

On June 20, 1915, the Governor of Georgia, John M Slaton, commuted Frank's sentence of death to life in prison. A notorious journalist, Tom Watson, called for the lynching of both Slaton and Frank. A mob threatened to attack the governor at home. His life was spared by a force of Georgia National Guard reinforced by county policemen and a group of Slaton's friends.

However, on August 17, 1915, a armed group including prominent citizens of Cobb County, entered the state prison farm near Milledgeville. They removed Leo Frank and transported him across the state to Frey's Gin, 2 mi east of downtown Marietta. They hung him from a tree.

In 1982, the man who had been the 13-yr old office boy at the factory, swore in an affidavit that the janitor had killed the girl.

On March 11, 1986, Frank was issued a pardon by the Georgia pardons and paroles board. In 1983 they had denied a pardon. They did not clear him of the crime, but agreed the state had not kept him safe while in its custody.

On March 7, 2008, a

marker was placed in front of the building at 1200 Roswell Rd in Marietta, near the location where Frank was lynched.
Rabbis, news crews, local politicians and onlookers attended the unveiling of the marker. Keynote speakers included Bill Nigut, Southeast Regional Director of the Anti-Defamation League; Cobb [County] Chairman Sam Olens; former Georgia Gov. Roy Barnes; state Senator Steve Thompson; Rabbi Steven Lebow; Georgia Historical Society President Todd Groce; and attorney Dale Schwartz.
- Cobb Neighbor Newspaper 2008Mar13 p2A

Let us rest here a bit before going on.

Kennesaw teen killed 2 days after graduation - beginning of a tour

Courtney E. Stroud, 17, is remembered for her whole-hearted embrace of life

The phenomenon of the small informal shrines has been growing over my lifetime. I don't remember it 5 decades ago. Now it is common enough that state governments have policies on the placement and removal of the shrines.

These stories grab at me. The high school she attended is close to my house. The memorial to her is in the area.

In the media they say "if it bleeds, it leads." These things attract attention, sell newspapers, air time, ... The commerce of violence.

I am blogging this to try to explain why and how this violence affects me. It isn't just the news coverage, or the memorials by the side of the road.

link to The tour - part 2 revised

link to more on signs