An Aid To Memory

We Americans are crazy when it comes to energy. I am currently paying $2.65 a gallon for gas, and we are only beginning to enter the peak driving season. I bet that we’ll be seeing $2.99/gallon gasoline soon. And you know what? Americans will be complaining about it, but in typical American fashion, we will be blaming everybody but ourselves for it.

Why are gas prices so high? Well, there are a variety of reasons, but the main reason is supply and demand. The US, China, and India are gobbling up gasoline, and the demand is only expected to grow. OPEC is actually trying to lower prices, and doesn’t seem to have the spare capacity to do so! Also, we need more refineries in the United States, and on account of environmental red-tape and oil companies that like tight supplies (which yield higher prices), our “newest” refinery is over 20 years old. The third issue raising prices is geopolitics. The areas that have the most oil are often unstable, and the average person in many of these countries loathes the oil-consuming West. I estimate that the price of gasoline would be around fifty cents a gallon lower if Iran wasn’t so hostile to us, Iraq wasn’t such a mess, and militants in Nigeria weren’t threatening oil companies so much.

While we could have a more positive effect on geopolitics, that is up to our leaders, and we know how slow and ineffective folks in Washington can be. This means we the people can do one thing at this point: conserve, which will reduce demand. Imagine if every driving American took steps to consume 2 fewer gallons of gasoline of gasoline per week. This could be accomplished by driving a more fuel efficient car, cutting out one non-essential trip per week, walking more, starting and stopping more gradually, coasting down hills and so forth. If all of us drivers did this (and all other factors stayed the same), we would add at least 20 million gallons of excess gasoline to the stockpiles each week. Over the course of 2 months, this build of 160 million gallons would be an economic bear that nobody could stop, not even the most ambitious futures traders, and prices would collapse from the current levels.

Don’t believe me? Many experts believe that if we had not had a mild winter this year, gasoline (and heating oil) would be over $3.00 a gallon right now. Nature took care of our demand problem, but had nature not have been favorable this winter, we could have seen record prices.

But alas, we Americans love our big status symbols, err, cars, and don’t like to be told what to do. Even though we are in a time of war, and oil feeds our enemies, even the most patriotic Americans proudly support the finances of the terrorists through their oil addictions.

Please join me in trying to develop some common sense about energy.

Doesn’t the photo on the left just kind of say desolation? It is a photo of an old school in the area. I actually used to play on this playground.

I am mainly posting this to see what WordPress has to offer.

This is just a test! I am playing around with Wordpress.

Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!

Many of you know I came to the Catholic Church via Anglicanism. I still like a lot of what Anglicanism has to offer, especially in terms of prayer and spirituality. The classical Anglican spiritual tradition is very rich, as many former Anglicans will tell you (Fellow Per Christum blogger Charles Everson and I have this talk a lot). So, what could be better than a modified Book of Common Prayer designed for Catholics? This is the Book of Divine Worship, the worship book of Anglican Use Catholic parishes.

When I got it in the mail today, I was amazed how huge this book is, as the photo on the left shows (the shoe is men’s 9 1/2). I plan on using this book primarily when praying the Liturgy of the Hours, mixing it up with the usual Latin-Rite Catholic version.

I wish there were an Anglican-Use parish nearby. As far as I am concerned (traditional) Anglicans generally know good liturgy.

I have always enjoyed music. I like a variety of styles from classical to rock. Since I subscribed to Yahoo Music I have had a great time finding old songs I love and discovering new ones. Here are a few new ones on my computer:

Pancho and Lefty - Townes Van Zandt
Fox on the Run - Dale Watson
Whistle Song - Kent
Kevlar Soul - Kent
Orly - Jacques Brel
If You’re Gone - Gene Clark
My Death - (Tribute to) Jacques Brel
Neon of Nashville - Flatlanders
Yahweh - U2
One by One - Wilco
Santa Fe Thief - Jimmie Dale Gilmore
He was a Friend of Mine - Jerry Jeff Walker

Of all the ones I listen to, Kent and Jacques Brel stand out in terms of their uniqueness. Kent is a Swedish band that has had 2 albums in English, Isola and Hagnesta Hill. I have both. Jacques Brel was a French singer who wrote many tunes that became hit songs in America ("If You Go Away" and "Seasons in the Sun"). I don’t understand a word he is saying, but the music is good. He died of lung cancer in the 1970s, and you can hear him breathing heavy on "Orly," left with one barely functioning lung, one of his last songs. An English tribute to Bel recorded a song called "My Death" which goes like this (excerpts):

My death,
is like a swinging door,
a patient girl,
who knows the score,
whistle for her,
and the passing time…

My death,
waits to allow my friends,
a few good times,
before it ends,
let’s drink to that,
and the passing time…

In the first and stanzas of "Orly", he sings (translation help please?):

Ils sont plus de deux mille
Et je ne vois qu`eux deux
La pluie les a soudés
Semble-t-il l`un à l`autre
Ils sont plus de deux mille
Et je ne vois qu`eux deux
Et je les sais qui parlent
Il doit lui dire: je t`aime
Elle doit lui dire: je t`aime
Je crois qu`ils sont en train
De ne rien se promettre
C`est deux-là sont trop maigres
Pour être malhonnêtes

Et puis il disparaît
Bouffé par l`escalier
Et elle elle reste là
Cœur en croix bouche ouverte
Sans un cri sans un mot
Elle connaît sa mort
Elle vient de la croiser
Voilà qu`elle se retourne
Et se retourne encore
Ses bras vont jusqu`a terre
Ça y est elle a mille ans
La porte est refermée
La voilà sans lumière
Elle tourne sur elle-même
Et déjà elle sait
Qu`elle tournera toujours
Elle a perdu des hommes
Mais là elle perd l`amour
L`amour le lui a dit
Revoilà l`inutile
Elle vivra ses projets
Qui ne feront qu`attendre
La revoilà fragile
Avant que d`être à vendre
Je suis là je le suis
Je n`ose rien pour elle
Que la foule grignote
Comme un quelconque fruit

The images are (left) of the woofer for my computer’s speakers and (upper right) my cat sitting beside some of my records. The records are (clockwise):  Joe South "Introspect," Badfinger "Say No More,"  "Introdicing the Beatles,"  Lemon Pipers "Jungle Marmalade," P.F. Sloan "Measure of Pleasure," and finally Barry McGuire "Eve of Destruction." The bottom right photo is the band director at the school where I work. Thanks to Picasa2 for jazzing these photos up.

For those who are participating in the Church Fathers Lenten Reading Plan, we are now discussing these readings online, on the Paltalk medium. This Wednesday, at 9:00PM EST, we will be discussing the Epistle of Ignatius to the Ephesians. For more information (and an upcoming schedule), please visit Catholics Building Bridges Events and Guidelines.

Yesterday I visited Ohio University, to watch a high school basketball game of all things. Jennifer and I went, along with my immediate family. I gave Jennifer a tour of the campus and I even visited Ellis Hall (where my Classics and Philosophy classes were) and my old dorm. Funny thing is that the dorm smells exactly the same as it did back then. Honestly, I had a rush of nostalgia, like I should be walking up the stairs with my cousin Bill and my brother, and some other friends, checking in at the dorm before we headed out for dinner. I liked my Ohio University days. I kind of miss being on campus. Since I visited on a Sunday, hardly anybody was out and about, but it still felt like it used to.

I enjoyed my undergrad days more than my time at grad school. I went to a mainline Protestant seminary for grad school, where the program was a mix of politically correct Academics and emotional reflection. Fortunately I did not enter into the MDiv program…I can only "process" so many feelings in one day and tolerate only so much trendiness in my worship. I met a lot of good friends there, and some of them have blogs I visit regularly, but I was just uncomfortable with my environment…not academically rigorous nor orthodox. I can take either one, or preferably a mix, but not something in between.

On a side note, Jennifer and I visited St. Paul’s Catholic Church in Athens. They had some great materials on Natural Family Planning and Catholic morality, not to mention signs encouraging Eucharistic adoration. Jennifer jokingly said, "see what you missed," referring to the fact that I wasn’t Catholic at the time, but rather struggling to find a church where I fit in. I hope to go back soon on a weekday to meet up with some friends.