Review of the Elton John autobiography "ME"

Elton John’s Your Song on a cassette copy of the Elton John album captured my interest in the early 1970s when I was but a young teenager. Then came Tumbleweed Connection, 17-11-70,  Madman Across the Water, Honkey Château, Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only the Piano Player, the quintessential Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, followed by Caribou, and Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy. I owned some on cassette and some on vinyl. Sometime during those teenage years, I pilfered a vinyl copy of the Friends soundtrack from my sister’s record collection and eventually found a copy of the original vinyl Empty Sky in a discount record bin. Elton John’s  music formed a major part of the soundtrack to my adolescence and I have been a fan ever since.

I have seen Elton John in concert only once. It was a rainy night in an outdoor venue in the late 1990’s somewhere near DC. The rain never stopped. The ground we were sitting on turned into a muddy mess. It seemed like he played a longer set than I imagined he usually did,  perhaps to reward his fans for sitting through and enjoying the show in such miserable conditions. I was wet, soaked to the bone, but not disappointed.

I went to see the movie Rocket Man the day it opened in a theater near where I live. It was not the movie I was expecting to see but I liked it. I wish, however, that it had taken the story further along Elton’s career path and life.

I received Elton’s autobiography ME for Christmas and started reading it a few days later. I have now finished it. I loved it. It is a clearly written 354 page “Tell All” overview of his life and career filled with drugs, rock stars, celebrities, a little sex, and some introspection boarding on the spiritual. I could not put it down. I laughed while reading some sections and nearly cried while reading others. I tried to remember where I was and what I was doing when he narrated specific incidents and periods, so it invited me to reflect on my own life and work.

I might be an Elton John fan, but I am not obsessive about him. I have never joined an Elton John fan club or read about him in the tabloids, but I still listen to his music, especially his early work. I read a lot in ME that I did not know about even though I was familiar with the rough outline of his stardom. ME filled in the blanks I was unaware of in an enjoyable way.

The 354 pages of ME include twenty-four pages of mostly color photographs, many of which include other famous rock stars and personalities. Perhaps best of all, there is a seventeen-page index which I think I will use to go back to read his comments about his early recordings.

If you like reading autobiographies of famous personalities, especially rock stars, or have been a fan of Elton John, ME is a must read.

Review of Return to Mount Kennedy

Return to Mount Kennedy is not about Mountaineering. Yes, there are stills and video from the historic 1965 First Ascent by Bobby Kennedy and Jim Whitaker as well as the 50^th Anniversary attempt by Whitaker’s two sons Leif and Bobby and Kennedy’s son Christopher. There are snow fields, crevasses, snowshoes, crampons, ice axes and various shots of Mount Kennedy, but this film is not a mountaineering film. Rather, it is about how a mountain in the Canadian St. Elias Range served to introduce and eventually bond two generations of families, the families of Bobby Kennedy and Jim Whitaker.

I remember reading about the first ascent of Mount Kennedy in my Dad’s old July, 1965 National Geographic when I was still a teenager. I read Jim Whitaker’s memoir A Life on the Edge when it was first published. I recently reread those three National Geographic articles as well as an article in the April 9, 1965 issue Life as I awaited the delivery of Return to Mount Kennedy.

Watching Return to Mount Kennedy  rekindled memories and feelings associated with the assassination of JFK in 1963 and RFK in 1968. It reminded me of some of what I had read in Whitaker’s memoir but had forgotten about. It served as a testament to how mountains and mountaineering can forge lifelong friendships that transcend generations. It served to reignite my own desire to venture forth into the mountains. It made me proud to be a member of REI since 1974.

I loaned an old copy of National Geographic and my Return to Mount Kennedy DVD to a co-worker with some Mountaineering experience. After watching the video, she agreed that this was not the film she was expecting to see, but she still liked it. A little younger than I, she was also glad she read the three articles in National Geographic before watching the film as it gave her some historical background to the film.

Review of Earl Shaffer's "Walking With Spring"

            Earl Shaffer was both the first person to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail and to write about it. He completed his south-to-north (NOBO or North Bound in Appalachian Trail lingo) trip in 124 days, averaging over sixteen miles a day, backpacking every day and never taking a day off for rest. As he himself noted, “Three years were to go by before Gene Espy duplicated [his] south-to-north trip, and Chester Dziengielewski and Martin Papendick completed the trip north-to-south (SOBO of South Bound in AT ling) the same year. That year was 1951, years before “NOBO”, “SOBO”, and “thru-hiker” became part of the AT nomenclature.

            Shaffer completed his second thru-hike, SOBO, in ninety-days in 1965. “The story that inspired thousands of Appalachian Trail thru-hikers,” about his 1948 thru-hike but with the hindsight of 1965 thru-hike, was privately printed in 1981. He entitled it Walking With Spring because “he had come to the woods to walk with spring” and followed spring’s arrival in the Appalachians as he hiked NOBO from Georgia to Maine.

            The first AT thru-hiker hoped to average twenty miles a day but was willing to settle for fifteen. While backpacking, he calculated that it took him about two thousand steps to cover a mile, or a stride of a little over two and a half feet. He once backpacked four miles in fifty-five minutes, an incredible pace I would be challenged to emulate as my best pace is a mere three miles an hour and I average far less even without a full pack.

            Shaffer was ahead of his time. Just as The National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) was pioneering and perfecting minimum impact camping, which later morphed into Leave No Trace (LNT) principles and practices, Shaffer reflected on his 1948 thru-hike by writing, “When I left, the signs of my presence were so slight that the next rain would remove them. Like the Indians, I say ‘Where I go I leave no sign.’ P. 130.” It would be decades before others would consciously adopt such practices and principles.

            The author was also somewhat prescient, opining in 1981 about development along the AT and writing, “The encroachment that once seemed overwhelming must be stopped if the Appalachian Trail is to survive. P. 110” Here we are, nearly seventy years after Shaffer’s first thru-hike and more than thirty-five years after he published Walking With Spring, and we are still struggling to stop encroachments such as the Mountain Valley Pipeline.

            Reading the 2004 fourth printing of a facsimile reprint of the 1981 edition of Walking With Spring, published by the Appalachian Trail Conference in 1983, was a humbling experience. Shaffer hiked with a heavy and bulky Mountain Troop rucksack weighing an average of forty pounds fully packed, increasing to sixty pounds for the final stretch through the Maine wilderness.  Yet decades before “ultralight backpacking” became a modern mantra, Shaffer’s motto was, “Carry as little as possible but choose that little with care. p. 9.” He later opined, “a long distance hiker must choose between traveling light and not traveling at all. p. 27.” I doubt forty, and certainly not sixty pounds would qualify “as little as possible” by today’s ultralight standards. Yet Shaffer persevered. I doubt I would have fared as well.

Along the C & O Canal Towpath
that also serves as a stretch
of the AT through Maryland

            I would be hard pressed to keep up with Shaffer’s pace even if I did not average in days spent resting, which he did not take. I would be equally challenged to do what he did with the gear available to him, relying instead on aluminum, nylon, and other light weight gear easily available today but not in 1948.

           

           At 152 pages long, Shaffer’s writing pace is a little over 13 miles a page. Evan at that brisk pace, however, I was able to enjoy the Native American legends and lore, local history, and references to American woodsmen such as Boone, Crockett, Carson, Wetzel, and others that he sprinkled throughout his work. Even though sections of the AT have been rerouted since Shaffer’s first thru-hike, and I have never thru-hiked the AT, I have backpacked enough of it to enjoy his descriptions of locations I have myself visited, such as Fontana Dam, OId Rag, The Chesapeake and OhioCanal, Swatara Gap, Hawk Mountain, the Delaware Water Gap, Tammany Mountain, Sunfish Pond, North Conway and Pinkham Notch.

At Old Rag many years ago

            Shaffer’s book is a memoir about his first AT thru-hike, not a detailed section-by-section description of the trail or a technical “how to” guide to thru-hiking the AT. His prose is easy going, not flowery or forced. I am glad I finally got around to reading it and recommend it anyone who loves hiking, especially backpacking the AT.

            My original review was originally published on The Trek and was edited before I posted it here on my own blog.

Review of Chris Bolgiano's The Appalachian Forest

Review of The Appalachian Forest, A Search For Roots and Renewal by Chris Bolgiano (Stackpole Books, 1998, 280 pages)

Book on the left, Shavers Fork on the right

I was born and have spent most of my life in the Appalachian Mountains. They are my second home, yet Chris Bolgiano provided me not only with a refreshing review of the region and the environmental threats related to its forested areas  but also abundant new information. She tied it all together with a well written, informative, and entertaining narrative. I highly recommend her book.

Of all the federal land in the southern Appalachians, I am most familiar with the Monongahela National Forest, but I am also familiar with Shenandoah National Park, the Nantahala National Forest, and The Pisgah National Forest.  Thanks to Bolgiano, I am now also familiar with other federal lands in the Appalachian mountains, how these lands contain and preserve some of the last remnants of the once Great Appalachian Forest as well as the hope for the emergence of a new Great Forest, and threats to the forest from clear cutting, strip mining, acid rain, and development.

Bolgiano reminded me that forests are more than trees. In addition to a thorough discussion of the American Chestnut and other trees indigenous to the Appalachians, she provides an  overview of some of the flora and fauna other than trees that inhabit this ecosystem, including ginseng, salamanders, black bears, and the mysterious “balds” unique to many Appalachian summits. She also provides a history of some of the people associated with the southern mountains, including the Scots-Irish “who formed the backbone of the Appalachian mountain culture,” and the Cherokee, some of whose descendants still live on a reservation in the area. I also met contemporary white water rafters and kayakers, mountain bikers, and environmentalists in the books pages.

I was fortunate to read the entire book over a four day period while camped along the banks of Shavers Fork, one of the longest and best native trout streams in the heart of West Virginia’s Monongahela National Forest. The setting, I am sure, added to Bogliano’s informed but not overly scientific yet engaging style to provide me with an enjoyable read.

This post is an edited version of a post that originally appeared on The Trek.

Review of Freezer Bag Cooking: Trail Food Made Simple

Freezer Bag Cooking: Trail Food Made Simple
Author: Sarah Svien Kirkconnell
Softcover: 90 pages
Bay Street Publishing; copyright 2007

When a couple of canoeing friends loaned me a copy of Sarah Svien Kirkonell’s Freezer Bag Cooking: Trail Food Made Simple, I was so impressed by it that I ordered my own copy. A few months later, when I set out on a weeklong solo backpacking trip, all my dinners were Kirkonnell’s Freezer Bag Cooking recipes!

Part of what impressed me about Freezer Bag Cooking: Trail Food Made Simple was that most if not all the ingredients could be bought in a grocery store. I live in a small town and had to travel out of town to larger grocery stores to find all the ingredients. Fortunately, there are larger grocery stores within twenty miles of where I live.

I was also impressed that all the ingredients could be packed into a one quart zip lock freezer bag. When it came time to prepare my dinner, all I had to do was add boiling water to the bag, allow it to sit in an insulated cozy for between five to ten minutes, and perhaps open a pouch of tuna, chicken or salmon at some point during the process, and add it the bag as well.  At the end of each meal, all of which were tasty and filling, the empty zip lock bag served as a trash bag for any empty foil pouches and other trash I had accumulated throughout the day.

Admittedly, each freezer bag dinner weighed more than a freeze dried dinner would have weighed, but each freezer bag dinner also took up less space than a freeze dried dinner would have taken up and cost less. I would not want to rely solely of freezer bag dinners for a long backpacking trip such as thru hiking the AT, but I think freezer bag dinners are a quick, easy, and inexpensive alternative to freeze-dried meals for any backpacking trip or trek lasting up to a week.

Kirkonnell has written a few other books apparently similar to Freezer Bag Cooking: Trail Food Made Simple, including Freezer Bag Cooking: Adventure Ready Recipes, and more. She also publishes recipes and writes about trail cooking at www.freezerbagcooking.com.

This review originally appeared on The Trek

Review of Belden Lane's "Backpacking with the Saints"

Backpacking with the Saints: Wilderness Hiking as Spiritual Practice. By Belden C. Lane. Oxford University Press, 2015. 266 pp. $24.95

I am not the first person to experience, reflect on, and write about the spiritual dimension of wilderness. Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and John Muir are just three writers in that genre that come immediately to my mind. After reading Backpacking with the Saints: Wilderness Hiking as Spiritual Practice, I will add Belden C. Lane’s name to that list.

A 266 page hardback is not a book most would want to carry in their pack. For those heading out into the wilderness searching for and expecting a spiritual experience, this is a book to be read before heading out. For those who unexpectedly experience something spiritual while in the wilderness, this is a book to be read after you return home to help you debrief.

Belden Lane is Professor Emeritus of Theological Studies, American Religion, and History of Spirituality at Saint Louis University and an ordained Minister in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). His writing immediately betrays his academic credentials as well as his own spiritual and mystical experiences in the wilderness. Each chapter pairs reflections from one of his hiking, backpacking, or kayaking adventures with reflections upon his reading of a saint’s writings during that trip. The narrative is spiced with enough tidbits about Leave No Trace, boots, blisters, stoves, tents, packs, Backpacker Magazine, and trail descriptions and lore to satisfy any hiking or backpacking enthusiast.

Even though Lane writes from a Christian perspective, he unapologetically also draws from Hindu, Buddhist, Jewish, and Muslim spiritual and mystical sources as well secular writers such as Carl Jung, Joseph Campbell, John Muir, Wendell Berry, Edward Abbey, Anne Lamott, and Barbara Kingsolver. When Lane backpacked into Missouri’s Moonshine Hollow, for instance, he carried with him and reflected on the writings of Thich Nhat Hanh. When he journeyed to Missouri’s Taum Sauk Mountain, he took with him and reflected on writings by Jelaluddin Rumi.

While not preachy, the chapters are organized according to a classic understanding of the spiritual journey interpreted through a backpacking metaphor. I think anyone who considers himself or herself “spiritual” or “religious” will relish in the open mindedness of this work along with enough meat to chew on to engage their heart and mind regardless of their religious or spiritual tradition or lack thereof.

I think Backpacking with the Saints: Wilderness Hiking as Spiritual Practice can inform all whose wilderness wanderings and trips include a spiritual dimension.

A slightly longer of this review originally appeared on The Trek.

Gear Review: Marmot Cloudbreak 30, Sea to Summit Thermolite REACTOP, Therma-a-Rest SOlite

Most gear reviews address only one item even though most items are not used in isolation but in combination with other items that might affect how they perform.  In this review I will evaluate my new backpacking sleeping system consisting of Regular Length Marmot Cleadbreak 30,  a  Sea to Summit Thermolite REACTOP sleeping bag liner, and a small (20 x 48) Therm-a-Rest RidgeRest SOlite sleeping pad. All were recently purchased from REI.

I purchased the regular length Marmot Cloudbreak 30, rated to 30 degrees Fahrenheit and weighing less than two pounds, after comparing it to three other similarly priced and designed bags, even climbing into all four and zipping them up around me.  I bought it to use when backpacking in wet weather, coastal kayaking, and sleeping aboard a sail boat, all situations where my old three-season down bag might get wet and loose its ability to insulate. After two consecutive nights in temperatures down to 30 degrees Fahrenheit, including rain, sleet, and snow, the second night, I found that the Cloudbreak 30 kept me warm enough if I used the bag liner and dressed properly.

The first night out the temperature dropped to about 45.  I wore Patagonia Capilene long underwear inside the liner bag but no socks and I had not eaten anything for three or four hours.  I awoke during the night with cold feet and a few other cold spots.  The second time the temperature dropped to 30 with rain that turned to sleet that turned to snow.  I wore the same Patagonia Capilene long underwear inside the liner bag but added clean, dry, wool socks and ate some carbs before turning in.  Even though the temperature was 15 degrees cold that the night before I slept warmer and never felt any cold spots.

The Cloudbreak 30’s regular length and roomy foot gave my toes plenty of room to wiggle, especially when they felt cold the first night, and left enough space for a poly bottle or even a stuff bag of boots if need be.  The girth felt a little constructing around my upper arms but no more than my old down bag.  As others have noted, the zipper can easily snag, and did a couple of times. Marmot should probably replace it with a larger tooth zipper.

I have never before used a sleeping back liner but I wanted one for three reasons, first, to help keep my new Cloudbreak 30 clean, second, to add extra degrees of warmth, and third, to serve as a summer weight bag when the Cloudbreak 30 is too warm.  The Sea to Summit Thermolite REACTOP sleeping bag liner,  weighing a mere 9 oz, is advertised to increase warmth by 14 degrees Fahrenheit, hypothetically allowing me to use  my  Cloudbreak down to 16 degrees Fahrenheit if I need to while also serving as a standalone warm weather bag. The REACTOP fulfilled my first two desires during my recent trip.  While the temperature did not drop below 30, I slept so warmly when it did that I can imagine being nearly as comfortable at  16 if I dress properly and keep myself fueled. I am still waiting for a summer night to see if the REACTOP will fulfill my third desire.

I used to use a full length inflatable Therm-a-Rest pad but recently misplaced it. Wanting to move toward more lightweight backpacking,  I replaced it with the small (20 x 48) Therm-a-Rest RidgeRest SOlite sleeping pad which weighs a mere 9 oz, far less than my misplaced Therm-a-Rest, although the SOlite takes up more space than the inflatable Therm-a-rest when rolled up. I may have felt a few more irregularities underneath my new SOlite compared to my old inflatable but too many.  I did not miss the old inflatable’s extra length but I did miss its ability to lay flat when inflated.  The SOlightt wanted to curl and partially roll up if my bag was not lying on top of it.  As a side benefit, the SOlight aluminized surface, advertised to reflect body heat back toward the body, could also serve in an emergency to help summon aid or identify location, something my misplaced inflatable would never have been able to do.  I also do not have to worry about the SOlight being stabbed by an errant branch or tent stake and losing its insulating ability or comfort.

Taken together, the above sleeping system weighs a little more than three pounds.

I recently used this sleeping system during a weekend in late March at over 4,000 feet.  As previously stated, the temperature the first night dropped to about 45.  It dropped to 30 the following night as rain first turned to sleet and then snow.  I woke up the second morning to about three inches of snow.

I used the new system in more than ten year old Sierra Designs Ultra Flash 2 person, lightweight, three season.  That is right, a three season tent!  Even though I was in a three season tent with netting all around, sleeping properly dressed and fueled inside a a REACTOP liner inside a Cloudbreak 30 on top of a short SOlite I slept toasty warm.

Sailing: Philosophy for Everyone: Catching the Drift of Why We Sail

Sailing: Philosophy for Everyone: Catching the Drift of Why We Sail

Edited by Patrick Goold; Forward by John Rousmaniere ISBN 978-0-470-67185-6

A Review by John Edward Harris

One of the many titles available in the Wiley-Blackwell Philosophy for Everyone series, Sailing: Philosophy for Everyone: Catching the Drift of Why We Sail offers philosophers real world application of philosophical principles and invites sailors to critically reflect on their sailing experience.  If you are a philosopher and want to learn about sailing, you could do better by taking a sailing class or reading an instructional book. If you sail and either have a philosophical bent or want a little help reflecting on your sailing experiences, this is the best book I know of.

I am both an amateur philosopher, having taught Introduction to Philosophy as Adjunct Faculty based on my M.Div., and an amateur cruiser, having completed ASA 101, 103 and owning and sailing a C&C 24 on New York’s Jamaica Bay.  As a sailor and a philosopher, I loved most of this book.

The fifteen chapters, divided into four parts, are written by either philosophers who sail or sailors who have critically reflected on sailing. In Part 1, PASSING THROUGH PAIN AND FEAR IN THE PLACE OF PERPETUAL UNDULATION, Jack Stillwaggon considers the Certo ergo sum dimension of sailing.  Gary Jobson provides a racer’s point of view. Crista Lebens draws primarily on Aristotle’s “eudaimonia” and phronesis to reflect on a typical day sailing.  In my favorite chapter, Richard Hutch applies Rudolf Otto’s idea of mysterium tremendum to ponder the spiritual dimension of sailing.

In Part 2, THE MEANING OF THE BOAT - THREE SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT, James Whitehill offers a reflection from a Zen point of view.  Gregory and Tod Basham’s chapter on The Stoic Sailor was my fourth favorite chapter.  I highlighted more text in it than any other chapter except one.   Steve Horrobin’s “Sailors of the Third Kind” was my third favorite chapter and the one in which I highlighted the most text.  In case there was any doubt, Horrobin convinced me that of the three types of sailors, I am the third kind.

In Part 3, BEAUTY AND OTHER AESTHETIC ASPECTS OF THE BEAUTY OF THE SAILING EXPERIENCE, Nicholas Hayes’ reflection on the Race to Mackinac left me a little cold because I am not a racer.  Steve Matthew’s chapter on Sailing, Flow, and Fulfillment, however, invited me to reflect on the “flow” I sometimes experience sailing as well as sea kayaking, even though he writes from the perspective of a sail boarder. My second favorite was Chapter 10, “On the Crest of the Wave: The Sublime, Tempestuous, Graceful, and Existential Facets of Sailing.”  In it, Jesus Ilundain-Agurruza, Luisa Gagliardini Graca, and Jode Angel Jauregui-Olaiz helped me understand why, for me, navigare necesse est.  Their chapter 10, along with Hutch’s Chapter 4, would have justified my purchasing this collection of essays.  In Chapter 11, Jesse Steinberg and Michael Stuckart consider what is “instrumentally valuable” and “intrinsically valuable” about sailing.

In Part 4, PHYSICS AND METAPHYSICS FOR THE PHILOSOPHICAL SAILOR, Sebastian Kuhn’s chapter 12 considers the relativity of sailing. John D. Norton considers wind, apparent wind, and created wind in Chapter 13, a chapter that forced me to remember what I learned in high school about vectors, and in the Appendix contained more math than most would be comfortable with.  In Chapter 14, Tamar M. Rudavsky and Nathaniel Rudavsky-Brody consider the gods, fate and the sea.  Hilaire Belloc’s Chapter 15 transforms a crossing of the English Channel into an archetype sail.

Because Sailing: Philosophy for Everyone: Catching the Drift of Why We Sail is a collection of essays rather than the work of one author, it can seem uneven.  While for some, its choppiness can be a challenge, it can also provide some excitement.  Sailors, from racers to cruisers, and sailboarders to blue water circumnavigators, will most likely find some wind for their sails in these pages and lead them to wonder if indeed the unexamined sail is not worth sailing.

The Magdalene

Was Mary Magdalene possessed by evil spirits, or was she a mystic with awareness of, and access to, spiritual power? Was Mary one of the first disciples of Jesus, and more than any of the other apostles a nearly equal co-participant in Jesus’ ministry of preaching, and, in the final days of his ministry, his wife? Was she to blame for his death? Did she write her own Gospel before sailing for France, where she would bare Jesus’ daughter?

These are just some of the provocative theories explored, and perhaps faith challenging questions asked, in The Magdalene: A Musical Play, now in previews at the The Theater at St. Clements, 423 West 46th Street, NYC.  I find it both ironic and symbolic that a play such as The Magdalene would be running in a building still serving as an active church. Perhaps there is hope for the Church, after all.

Shad Olsen not only plays one on the lead characters, Yeshua, he is also the playwright. Shad calims to have been influenced and inspired by his teacher, James Olm, who wrote the music. He also credits the writings of Margaret Starbird.  As I experienced this musical, I heard what I thought were echoes of both Jesus Christ Superstar and Godspell. I saw scenes which reminded me of scenes from Martin Scorsese’s film adaptation of Nikos Kazantzakis’ Last Temptation of Christ. The sparse set and costumes were enough to transport me back two-thousand years ago to Palestine without detracting from, or adding to, the both spoken and sung script.

Olsen offered not a meek and mild saintly Yeshua, but rather a peace loving man, or rather a loving peaceful man, who sought nothing but to accept people as they were and to share with them God’s love. For this Yeshua, that is all God is, love, and love is also God.

The title character, Mary Magdalene, played by Lindsie Vanwinkle, seemed to alternate between a whimpering but self-righteous victim and a brash self-confident religious and spiritual rebel whom never seemed to be at peace with herself. The strength of VanWinkle’s craft was evident during an after performance talkback between the cast and audience when she appeared nothing like her character.

Faith Annette Engine ably portrayed the little girl that I was never sure was all angel or a mixture of little angel and a little demon, or perhaps an outward manifestation of Mary’s unconscious with just a little of the collective unconscious added in as well.

Evangelia Kingsley embodied the Rivkah roll, an older, blind midwife who subtly guides the birth of her assistant as Mary is transformed from abused daughter to a religious and spiritual leader, and then later becomes one of the followers of Yeshua and Mary.

I was most pleased, however, with the performance of supporting actor Eugene Barry-Hill, who boldly and confidently filled the Pilatus character with hints of modern street pimp, Wall Street tycoon, and the manipulative and opportunistic politician seeking re-election.

While some less informed in the audience might find their religious sensibilities and sensitivities, if they have any, challenged, there is nothing new here, at least not for anyone familiar with Dan Brown’s The DaVinci Code, or the writings of Margaret Starbird, or who are familiar with the Gnostic Gospels. I was first exposed to the theory that Mary Magdalene and Jesus may have been married in the mid 1970’s when I was an undergraduate studying under the tutelage of the late William E. Phipps, Ph.D., who decades ago explored topics such as The Sexuality of Jesus, Was Jesus Married?, and Recovering Biblical Sensuousness.

I enjoyed The Magdalene sitting front and center, flanked by two other Mainline Ordained Ministers, both female, who, while seeing and hearing a few things slightly differently than I did, both liked the play. The Magdalene runs about ninety minutes without any intermission.

Review of First Aid Afloat . . . Mate

FIRST AID Afloat

When I ordered First Aid Afloat, prepublication and sight unseen, I did not realize that the publisher, Wiley Nautical, was a British Publisher. I encountered the first giveaway on page 18, when I read, “Heart disease is the main cause of death in the United Kingdom.” While British-isms abound in this 127 page paperback, the only time the British bias is a detriment is on pages 108-109, where all the directions for obtaining radio medical advice refers to the Queen Alexandra Hospital, Portsmouth, and the Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, and where all the references to the “coastguard” are to the British coastguard.

I am new to sailing, having bought my first sailboat only a few months ago. One of the first things I did after buying the 24 footer was to assemble a first aid kit.

While I might be new to sailing, I am not new to first aid or emergency medicine. In my younger years I was an American Red Cross Water Safety Instructor and held various ARC First Aid certifications as well as both ARC and American Heart Association CPR certifications. I was a Nationally Registered Emergency Medical Technician and worked as a professional EMT for nine months. Therefore, I knew the importance of having a well-stocked first aid kit aboard my sail boat, and I know how to use everything in it.

I bought First Aid Afloat not so that I could read it and use it in an emergency, but so that I could put in my boat’s first aid kit for other people to use in case I was not on board or I was sick or injured and could not render first aid to myself. Not overly technical and written and illustrated clear enough for the layperson, First Aid Afloat could very save a life, includingmy own.

What I like most about this book is that it is small boat specific. Both a powerboat and a sailboat appear on the cover, but neither is large. The text assumes one is aboard a small yacht. This is most obvious on page 54, where the text reads, “Commercially available splints for the leg are available, but tend to be bulky, and would tie up too much space on board a small yacht to be carried as part of the emergency kit."

A couple other examples of the small boat specificity of the text are on page 106. “When moving a causality, particularly in the small confined spaces on a yacht, you must consider personal and causality safety, the condition of the causality, manpower and equipment on board, and basic principles of lifting and moving.” Also “Improvisation is useful. For example, a stretcher can be fashioned from jackets and dinghy oars. The oars can be placed through the jacket sleeves with jacket fronts closed around them to create the stretcher, but always test that it will take the casualty’s weight before using it.”

There are probably more books about emergency first aid than could fit on a small boat, including many about first aid in wilderness and backcountry settings as well as first aid manuals specifically aimed toward recreational boaters and professional mariners. I find this slim volume complete enough for the small sailboat I own, one that will probably be limited to day cruises, or no more than an overnight cruise, and probably never out of radio range or more than a few hours from shore. It might even be the only first aid manual I keep in my boats first aid kit.

The list price of First Aid Afloat, by Sandra Roberts, is $26.95, but I bought it from Amazon.Com for $17.95.

Stones For Bread: A critique of Contemporary Worship by A. Daniel Frankforter

I rarely read books recommended and loaned to me by friends. I already have too many unread books on my shelves, some of which I will probably never read in my lifetime. The more books I read that I do not own, the longer it will take me to read the books I do own.

Nevertheless, I recently read Stones For Bread: A critique of Contemporary Worship by A. Daniel Frankforter, even though it is not a recent publication, but nearly ten years old. A friend and colleague in ministry loaned me his copy and not only recommended that I read it, he urged me to read it.

The first couple of chapters were slow going. The more I read, however, the more I found the author articulating many of my own thoughts and feelings regarding Contemporary Worship. He said them much better than ever could, however. He also organized his thoughts better than I have been able to organize mine.

In one sense, Stones for Bread is a critique of “Contemporary Worship” in the sense of contemporary being an attempt to upgrade and update, or modernize, if you will, what some often criticize as stale, stodgy, stuck-in-the mud worship. In another sense, however, Stones for Bread offers a thoughtful critique of “Contemporary Worship” in the sense of contemporary being whatever passes for worship in the present day, much of which, in my opinion, is not theologically informed and poorly led.

I wish everyone who worships with the Church I serve as Designated Pastor and every leader of worship in the Presbytery of which I am a member would read and reflect on this book.

The Best Shorts Ever

Now that daytime highs are remaining between 50-70°F I have been enjoying wearing my favorite apparel, shorts, but not any shorts, Patagonia brand Stand Up Shorts (the ones with the 5” inseam, not the 7” inseam), in my opinion the best shorts ever. A well worn pair, several years old, appears in the photo to the right.

Patagonia claims that their Stand Up Shorts have “been around for 30-plus years” and I believe them. I purchased and starting wearing Patagonia Stand Up Shorts in the late 70’s, perhaps as early as 1976 or 1977, usually owning three or four pair in various colors at any one time. I have since worn them rock climbing, backpacking, day hiking and as general casual wear. I usually retire them long before they wear out only because they have acquired unsightly stains I have not been able to remove. A few pair, however, have bitten the dust through wear and tear, but only after years of use and abuse, usually fraying at the bottom hem or just below the front pocket in the leg crease. On average, a pair of stand up shorts probably stand up to my abuse and use from three to five years, maybe longer.

Few products, certainly few items of apparel, remain on the market as long as these shorts have been available. I think of them as the Volkswagen Beetle of apparel: basic, no frills, well designed, offering good value for the money, and built to last. And I should know what I am talking about as I used to own and drive two used 1972 Super Beetles, driving them well into the late 80’s. I hope that unlike the VW Beetle, Patagonia brand Stand Up Shorts will be around another 30-plus years.

Pirate Radio Rocks

My wife and I just returned home after seeing Pirate Radio. It is a treasure.

The English government might have killed pirates in the early 1700's, but as Pirate Radio tells the story, it could not kill Pirate Radio and Rock and Roll in the 1960's.

If you love classic Rock and Roll and are an anti-establishment type that likes a story about someone sticking it to the man, then set a course to theater to see this movie.

Philip Seymour Hoffman of Almost Famous exudes Rock and Roll. Bill Nighy of Pirates of the Caribbean captains the ship. A compliment of DJs, supported by a stellar cast of classic Rock and Roll cuts, rounds out the motley crew. My hunch is that this is one soundtrack that will be sailing into our collection.

Thus was the first time I ever watched a movie in theater when I was asked my opinion of the film both before and after watching it. As patrons entered the theater we were handed a survey, along with a small pencil. We were asked to fill out the front of the survey before we watched the film and to fill out the back page after watching the film.

One of the Best Kayaking Books I Have Read

I have had the time to do a little more reading lately, which is why in the past couple of days I have finished reading Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol as well as Sea Kayaker Magazine’s Handbook of Safety and Rescue by Doug Alderson and Michael Pardy (2003 McGraw-Hill). It seems like it took me nearly forever to navigate the 199 pages of Alderson and Pardy’s Handbook of Safety and Rescue but this was one of the best books about kayaking that I have read, and I have read quite a few. This paperback resource is jammed packed with information, diagrams, and charts related to just about every aspect of sea kayaking and I will probably be returning to for years to come. While the texts is not a difficult read, it can be a dense read if one takes the time, like I did, to reflect on the various scenarios and to imagine and think through some of the physical movements of the strokes and rescue techniques. As I read, I found myself thinking back to past paddles involving events and incidents and how they could have been avoided. I also imagined how these events and incidents could have been accidents had it not been for good leadership, experienced paddlers, and a little luck. Hopefully, having read this book, I will not only be a safer paddler, avoiding potential problems by lessoning risk, but if problems do arise, I will have the knowledge to resolve it with minimum difficulty. I highly recommend anyone who paddles on open water buy and read this book.

The Lost Symbol

(No Spoiler Here) I read The DaVinci Code before Angels and Demons and liked it better. But I liked the Angels and Demon’s Movie better than The DaVinci Code Movie. Dan Brown’s latest novel combines the cryptic appeal of The DaVinci Code with the action packed fast pace of Angels and Demons with some darker and more violent moments thrown in for effect.

As I read these 505 pages I was aware that I was reading the third installment in a Robert Langdon series as there were references to the events recounted in Angels and Demons as well as The DaVinci Code, but not so many that one needs to read the previous novels first. It also seemed that Dan Brown assumed this novel would be turned into a movie as some of its chapters seemed to be written for the big screen as much as for the mind’s eye.

Although Robert Langdon is the only recurring character, there are numerous recurring plot devices as well as twists and turns reminiscent of the previous two novels. When I read The DaVinci Code I found Brown’s writing fresh and exciting. Not this time.

Having lived near our Nation's Capitol, close enough to make it downtown to the Mall within 90 minutes, my interest perked when I reached Chapter 79 on page 295 as Robert Langdon and the reader arrived at one of my favorite DC landmarks, one I have visited numerous times, exploring most of its public space. I was disappointed more of the novel was not set there. My hunch is that tourism to DC might slightly increase as a result of this novel being published.

As the plot line progressed, forty to fifty pages before the end I could see where it was headed. Being a theologically educated Christian with a strong background in classical and medieval Philosophy, and having read a lot of esoteric literature, I was familiar with most of the symbolism and theories that Brown employed. I was therefore not surprised by the end and was even a little disappointed.

Angels and Demons

(No Spoiler Here) I loved Dan Brown’s novel The DaVinci Code, read it before I read Angels and Demons, and preferred it to Angels and Demons. I thought The DaVinci Code film was alright but did not do justice to the book. Perhaps the DaVinci Code was too cerebral and its brain teasing puzzles simply did not translate well to the big screen. After seeing Angels and Demons on the big screen yesterday, my impression of Angels and Demons is the exact opposite. The action sequences kept me engaged even though I remembered the basic story line. The film seemed to move fast and was more exciting than the novel. By the end of the movie I was convinced that the film adaptation of Angels and Demons was better than the film adaption of The DaVinci Code, but I still think The DaVinci Code novel is a better read than the Angels and Demons novel. Maybe my impressions are being manipulated by a conspiracy wrought by a secret society.