“He Always Taught Her to Respect Herself”

Steve Shoemaker, Urbana, IL – April 24, 2012

A college-age daughter does not enjoy

hearing that her dad was quite the

when her age.

She can see him in a boy

that she is with:  so tall and gaunt, a grin,

a joke, a casual touch roué. But now a man

quite married to her mom–could he have been

a thong-collector?  (No, back then they called

them “panties…”)

Now a lawyer, then he studied

seduction,  Casanova, de Sade?

Now he’s a Deacon in the Church– absurd!

Steve Shoemaker standing at historic pulpit of Sheldon Jackson Church, Colorado

“Views from the Edge” note: Steve is not a Deacon and he’s not a lawyer. He’s a retired Presbyterian minister, poet, and activist living on the prairie near the University of Illinois. Steve was Pastor and Director of the McKinley Presbyterian Church and  Foundation at the University of Illinois. He concluded his ministry as Executive Director of the University YMCA  at the University of Illinois, a vigorous campus student center as big in heart and mind as Steve. His voice is heard every Sunday evening as host of “Keepin’ the Faith” an interview show on the University of Illinois’s radio station, WILL AM – Illinois Public Radio.