When my dog’s on a trail I can’t see,
And I call him to sit by my knee,
It never takes long,
His idea is just gone,
And with age it now happens to me!
Steve and his constant companion
– Steve Shoemaker, Urbana, IL, Jan. 28, 2015
NOTE: Steve and Nadja’s Collie enjoys the tall fields behind the Shoemaker home on the Illinois prairie, but his ears are tuned for his tall friend’s invitation. I [Gordon] would include his name, but I’ve forgotten.
She was young, white, and pregnant
when they moved
south. She had worked for Civil
Rights for blacks
up north. So seeing two doors
as she faced
the laundromat obscured
the sordid facts
of legal segregation
just before.
“Oh please, Ma’am, take your clothes
over next door,”
the old black woman said.
“Will you have trouble
if I stay?” “Please, Ma’am,
do as I say…”
The young woman had not
heard “Ma’am” before
from someone older, so
she turned her face —
embarrassed for her race ––
and went next door.
– Steve Shoemaker, Urbana, IL, Jan. 27, 2015
NOTE: While working on a Ph.D. in Religion at Duke University, Steve pastored two yoked Presbyterian Churches: the 88 member Pittsboro, N.C., (pop. 1,500 then), and Mt. Vernon Springs (55? members) 30 miles west in rural Chatham County. Nadja drove from the Manse in Pittsboro 30 miles north to do Microbiology research at Duke. Son Daniel was born in March, 1970.
The Keystone XL pipeline is more than a pipeline. It’s a rich man’s pipe dream that calls to mind an alternate view of reality itself: the psalmist’s tree with deep roots planted by the rivers of waters. Poets speak truth.
Blessed is the man
who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
but his delight is in the law of the Lord,
and on his law he meditates day and night.
He is like ia tree
planted by streams of water
that yields its fruit in its season,
and its leaf does not wither.
In all that he does, he prospers.
The wicked are not so,
but are like chaff that the wind drives away.– Psalm 1, ESV Bible
Say no to Keystone! Say it for the prairie. Say it for water. Say it for yourself. It’s good for big oil. Good for Congressional Representatives and Senators funded by big oil and and big money. Bad for the environment. Bad for national and global policy shift to renewable sources of energy. The Keystone XL lobby is, in the long run, like chaff which the wind drives away. Let the people say, “Amen!”
The First Presbyterian Church
and the Blackstone RangersAll stores and resturants must serve all
after the Civil Rights law passed
in 1964. But real
change comes, that has a chance to last,
as power shifts. Our Church began
to work with gangs to help get blacks
to vote. When Stones said everyone
should register, they did! Then folks
began to see that City Hall
responded to their needs: new trucks
to fix the streets appeared, to haul
away the piles of garbage. Police
still threw around their white might, but
some liberal lawyers, black and white,
were found to fight for the release
of innocent poor folks. Some peace
between gangs even came at night…The Reverend John Fry, ex-Marine,
on Sunday could inspire wood pews
to organize for holy fights.
On Monday words that were not clean
scorched any sinners who refused
to honor all black civil rights.– Steve Shoemaker, Urbana, IL, Jan. 26, 2015
NOTE: This is a memoir of Steve’s years at McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago when Steve and Nadja Shoemaker sat in the inspired wood pews listening to the Rev. Dr. John Fry’s preaching at First Presbyterian Church. Click HERE for information on the Reverend John Fry, First Presbyterian Church of Chicago, the Blackstone Rangers, and the Chicago Police Department. John Fry was an inspiration to us at McCormick, a bold preacher in the social gospel tradition who put his life where his mouth was.
O
to
see
them
whole
before
laments
overcome
excessive
confidence
anticipating
transmutation
gcs
St. Augustine, FL
1.23.2015
————-
So…you may be wondering what this is, the desire to see them who now before we lament the day we missed the opportunity. We need to pay attention NOW and act on behalf of wholeness in THIS LIFE instead of indulging in excessive confidence in an afterlife to remedy the injustices of how.
“Young and old lie together in the dust of the streets; my young men and young women have fallen by the sword. You have slain them in the day of your anger; you have slaughtered them without pity.” – Lamentations, 2:21, NIV
Ernie Banks rocks a robe that’s Cubs blue.
Pennant hopes are eternal, it’s true,
Wrigley’s sky might be gray,
Mr. Cub will still say:
“It’s a beautiful day–let’s play two!”
– Steve Shoemaker, Urbana, IL, Jan. 25, in memory of Mr. Cub, Ernie Banks.
Ernie Banks (Jan. 31, 1931 – Jan. 23, 2015), the MLB Hall of Fame shortstop affectionately known by the ever-hopeful Cubs fans of Wrigley Field as Mr. Cub, died yesterday at the age of 83.
Bees
Ora Conley had not liked
her middle name,
so she said, “I’m Ora Bee!”
It had a ring…
She was teased by kids, of course,
“Don’t sting! Don’t sting!”
She had ten kids of her own
and gave the same
name to her child number three,
“She’s Wilma Bee.”
Willie hated “Wilma,” but
she kept the “Bee”
and she passed it on to daughter
Nadja Bee.
Nadja kept her middle name
just for family:
one odd name would do for school,
thank you very
much… “My Dad was reading
Dostoyevsky!”
Her daughter naturally was
her Marla Bee.
Grace Olivia Bee carries
on the fame…
– Steve Shoemaker, Urbana, IL, January 20, 2014,
Photo is of Grace Olivia Bee at age 11, grand daughter of Nadja Bee, great-great-grand daughter to Ora Bee, and grand daughter of Nadja’s husband. That would be Steve, who loves bees.
She brought her long brown hair
home in her hand.
From twenty-five to forty
it had grown
till she could tuck it under
her fine, round,
full bottom as she sat.
When she would stand
in front of me, my fingers
found her hair
and stroked and petted. Now
it all was gone…
The pixy cut was cute–
it would compare
to Michelle Williams now,
or Audrey Hepburn then–
the stylist was a friend
of ours, but so
was Bill, the County Sheriff.
I called, he sent
a deputy with handcuffs
to get Sue
at the downtown salon,
make her repent
of her barbaric crime
against true beauty.
I had no doubt it was
my civic duty…
– Steve Shoemaker, Urbana, IL, Jan. 16, 2015.
Steve and Nadja were married August 21, 1965.
Nadja Shoemaker
Verse – Advice to New Legislators
Support each capital IDEA
(notice the capital letters)
made in the State Capital
(but not always in the CapitOl building)
which will gain financial capital
(if it garners enough political capital)
by making good use of social capital
(without wasting natural capital)
and be sure to capitalize on it.-Steve Shoemaker, Urbana, IL, Jan. 14, 2015
This hour of history – The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., whose life America celebrates this weekend, had a different IDEA. His was of a world “in which men no longer take necessities from the masses to give luxuries to the classes.”
A mutual friend who marched with Dr. King from Selma to Montgomery and had just seen “Selma” sent the line, reminding us of “the lessons that are severe, easily forgotten amidst the King mythology, but as relevant today as they were when he first voiced them.
cold rain
constant drizzle
just above freezing
gray day stay inside
drive with friends
cancelled
snow at least
would have been white
– Steve Shoemaker, Urbana, IL, Jan. 3, 2015 – published Jan. 4.
Steve Shoemaker in his favorite chair with Blazer, his collie by his side, his iPhone, book, and newspaper. Kite soaring outside the window
Picture of Steve in his favorite chair with book, iPhone, newspaper, collie Blazer, and blue kite taken this morning by Kay Stewart in the Shoemaker home in Urbana. Later we did have snow.
Views from the Edge 