With over three dozen browser tabs open on my computer, I figure it is time to summarize some of what I’ve been reading and close some tabs. I did, similarly just close a bunch of Word documents.

Falcon Ridge Bacteria, Music, and More

Yesterday, someone posted an article to the Falcon Ridge group about festival bracelets: Scientist Confirms That People Who Leave Festival Bracelets On Are Gross.

The article brought a range of comments. “Horse hockey… What nonsense… Real campers don’t worry about it…Sometimes Mental Health trumps physical health… “ I joined in with a couple comments.

The problem with this article is that it is based on the assumption that all bacteria is bad. Tell that to all the Miso, Yoghurt, and Sauerkraut lovers. More importantly, research has shown that certain bacteria in soil helps increase levels of serotonin.

I linked to an article that recently caught my attention, How Dirt Makes You Happy – Antidepressant Microbes In Soil The New Prozac?

I went on to say,

It isn't because I don't want to let go of the happy memories of Falcon Ridge that I keep my Falcon Ridge Bracelet on. I'm just thinking off all those bacteria helping produce serotonin around my wrist singing, "This is my home, this is my only home..."

For those who don’t recognize the quote, it is from the chorus of Gentle Arms of Eden. The first verse ends with, “Till a single cell did jump and hum for joy as though to say…”

As a side note, Acoustic Music Scene posted a little over a month ago, Apply Now for Falcon Ridge/Grassy Hill Emerging Artist Showcase. The deadline is May 20th.

Another side note: five years ago, I went to a social media conference at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. At the dinner, Marlow Cowan performed. He recently passed away and Lee Aase posted about in Memories of Marlow Cowan. You can see me performing as part of that in a video Lee included, at about the 33:29 mark: Cowans' Final Concert at Mayo Clinic. There is something special about performers like the Cowans that seems lost in the twenty first century.

Church Stuff

One email I received talked about an online discussion, May 17 Lessons Learned and Topics that We Still Need to Explore about Multicultural Awareness and Nurturing Cultural Competency as part of a webinar series of Province One of the Episcopal Church in the United States. I won’t be able to join the webinar, but hopefully friends will fill me in on how it goes.

John Burruss, whom I met at the Missional Voices Conference at Virginia Theological Seminary has an interesting blog post up, < a href=http://revjohnb.com/2016/05/church-as-neighborhood-association/> Church as Neighborhood Association?. In it he shares a couple questions: “Can the church create a neighborhood association? How can the church participate in the neighborhood conversation?” Perhaps another way of looking at the question is, if any particular churched closed up and went out of business, or moved out of the community, what sort of impact would that have on the community? I sometimes wonder if it would have almost no impact on many communities, which is a sad thought.

Another thought about churches and communities is the article, More than 100 LGBT Methodist clergy come out before denomination meeting. I haven’t read any official reports about what is happening at the United Methodist General Conference, but comments I’m reading online do not sound very positive hoping the Methodist church will become more supportive of LGBT people. I am sad. There are still a few more days of the conference, so we shall see what happens. As I read through the webpages I have open and follow various links, I come to this: Breaking Up Is Hard to Do and this: A report from Church and Society B. As I read all of this, I think about what has been going on with the Anglican Communion as well.

Other tabs I had open were St. Timothy's Episcopal Church where there is a message from the Interim Rector about Journeys. It goes nicely with the tab that was open next to it, What to Pack for the Camino de Santiago.

Other stuff

Some of the tabs that were open were the standards, Facebook, Gmail, my blog, various pages I had used for recent blog posts, LinkedIn, etc.

Also:
One Police Department's Response to Data on Racial Disparities in Traffic Stops
(About Hamden CT)

Mercury makes rare pass in front of the sun

Here Are 10 Connecticut Swimming Holes That Will Make Your Summer Epic
(Fiona wants to hit all ten this year)

The Impact of Early Childhood Lead Exposure on Educational Test Performance among Connecticut Schoolchildren, Phase 1 Report
(Some of Fiona’s reading material while she opted out of the SBACs)

Klarides delivers rebuke, but Romano sticks with reporter ban