Month: February 2026

My alma mater

After I received my undergraduate degree, I came to realize that I had not gotten a very good college education. In addition, I felt that although the college I attended claimed to abide by Quaker morals and ethics, in actuality the Quakerism was merely a cosmetic veneer. As a result, I decided never to give money to the college.

Fast forward to 2024, when Donald Trump chose Howard Lutnick to be Commerce Secretary. I vaguely remembered Howie Lutnick from college. About all I remembered about him was hearing from one of my college friends that Lutnick had become class president, in charge of raising money for the college from his classmates.

Today, the BBC reports that Lutnick had previously lied to Congress by claiming he had cut all ties to pedophile Jeffrey Epstein in 2005. Lutnick now admits, in testimony given to Congress today, that he visited Epstein’s infamous island in 2012, accompanied by his wife, his four children, and his nannies. No one is accusing Lutnick of molesting underage girls. But Lutnick not only lied to Congress about his ties to Epstein, he also retained his ties with Epstein even after the latter’s conviction of soliciting prostitution for a child. And knowing that conviction, he brought his own children to Epstein’s island. Yuck.

This was the president of my college class. He does not make me want to give money to my alma mater.

Groan

The OWL grade 7-9 class met this afternoon. OWL is the comprehensive sexuality education course for early adolescents developed by the Unitarian Universalist Association and the United Church of Christ, and beloved by parents; the initials stand for “Our Whole Lives.”

Class ended in time for Superbowl parties. One parent, as he picked up his teen, made a joke that I can’t believe I’ve never heard before. He was taking his child to the Superbowl from superb OWL….

It doesn’t seem so funny when I put it down in cold print, but it was definitely funny at the time.

Perry Mason

Over the years, I’ve written blog posts on several obscure topics. Some of those obscure topics — making your own burial shroud, washtub bass, composer A. B. Windom, etc. — result in some interesting correspondence.

Most recently, Don O. was looking through my collection of information about the Perry Mason books (not the TV show, mind you, but the books). I have a complete listing of the Perry Mason books, and have gradually been adding notes to each book about recurring characters, plot devices, and legal matters. Turns out Don is a professor of physics, and he sent me email pointing out how Erle Stanley Gardner, the author of the Perry Mason series, used some pretty good science in one of his novels. Thank you, Professor Don!

While I was updating that Perry Mason information with Professor Don’s contribution, I wound up rebuilding that corner of my blog, and I was able to add notes for several more of the books. If you’re a Perry Mason fan, check it out.

What the world needs now…

Carol was telling me about an influencer whom she follows. She told me one thing that this influencer said that seemed questionable to me. We argued about it for a bit. “You know influencers lack?” I said.

Carol looked at me skeptically. “What?” she said.

“Editors and fact checkers,” I said.

Two dying professions. I just wish we had more of them.

Wayside Pulpit

Tracey got a comic zine for me at a recent comic convention. Drawn and written by Sanika Phwade — who bills herself as “an illustrator, cartoonist, and reportage artist” — it tells about a minister who has fun with the signboard outside her church. The zine opens with the words: “Pastor Jamie Washam changes the sign outside the First Baptist Church in America every week.”

The cover of Sanika Phwade’s comic zine about Rev. Jamie Washam’s signboard

According to Phwade, by putting short aphorisms on the signboard, Rev. Washam is continuing the tradition of her predecessor: “He would call it The Wayside Pulpit — that preaches a sermon to whomever is passing by. I love that! But I also like having fun with these.”

As the keeper of the Wayside Pulpit outside our meetinghouse, I was jealous when I learned that people actually talk to Washam about the things she puts in her Wayside Pulpit. But then, her Wayside Pulpit is edgier than ours is. I put up sayings like “The moral arc of the universe is long but it bends towards justice.” No one comments on things like that. When Washam put up the phrase, “God Is Non-Binary,” sixteen people made comments:

“I have learned that it is the same signs that evoke both positive and negative reactions in people. Fifteen have said positive things about ‘God Is Non-Binary,’ and one person said, Hey what are you thinking? And I said well, let’s sit down and read genesis together. Because the text does support that. They thought I was just popping off politically, and yes I totally picked that up from Pride Fest. But it is completely substantiated by the text.”

Genesis 1:27 does in fact say, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.” That is, both male and female are created in God’s image, which implies that God is (ahem) non-binary. Oh ye of little faith who try to place limits on God, limiting him to one gender (regardless of the pronouns we humans use to describe him).

World Ukulele Day

Actually, February 2 is World Ukulele Day. But Mary Beth, our music director, decided we would celebrate it today, by accompanying the first hymn in our Sunday service. We had maybe two minutes of rehearsal, which is why the photo below shows us all looking at the song sheets on the music stands. But we played it through, we didn’t totally suck, and we had fun.

Screen grab from the livestream. L-R: Mary Beth, Steve, Micah, me.

Mike Lynch, who organized the first World Ukulele Day, said the goal was simple: “Take your uke out of its case and play it.” Beyond that, he said you could use your ukulele to bring some fun and joy into the world. I don’t know how much joy we brought into our Sunday service, but we certainly brought some fun. Besides, Mike Lynch often played uke at his church, so what we did was very much in the original spirit of the day.

The real World Ukulele Day is tomorrow. Plan now to take your uke out of the case and play it….