Squeaked by Another One

The latest lesson: going against the tide of cultural phenomena is incredibly hard, learned this weekend by guiding our toddler son through yet another "holiday" that has taken on extraordinarily commercial features, in addition to having origins that look to be incompatible with some spiritual life choices we have made. In short, we skipped the usual Halloween festivities in favor of a "Treat Street" festival at a local church, which meant our house was dark (didn't get egged), and probably provoked at least the curiosity of some of our neighbors (I may be overreaching on this last one--they may not care at all). We gave our son the option of wearing his duck towel as a costume, but he would have no part of it. The festival was very crowded, attesting to the embracing of this alternative by significant numbers in our town--a positive reinforcement on our journey.

On the political front, I offer Bush Relatives for Kerry, gleaned from the Christians for Kerry/Edwards site mentioned earlier. We are still very much involved in the world, and in the context we are in we have voting as one of our opportunities as citizens.

Librarian note: more staff movement--my key supervisor taking a position in another unit, which undoubtedly means more work for me until a replacement comes along (unless I delegate almost all of it, which, given the position, I can't see doing). The departure of a key subordinate is an opportunity to do monitoring of a sort that you just can't do by relying on "reporting up" or by other means. Send in the clones....