One of the prisoners I know was diagnosed with Hepatitis C in 1999 but not told until last week. No treatment for this disease is given in prison until acute liver failure sets in. Why he was not told is my question. Still, summer has begun. I can tell, because I am refreshed.
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If I lived in a city, I would pass cultural weekends like the weekends of Stephen Bess, but I do not live in a city, and the town is impaired. This weekend, however, I have received fresh shrimp and crab from my neighbor, acabados de pescar. I have seen the Hot 8 play and the ships slide along the river, and I have been to Mass at St. Augustine’s in honor of Father Jerome LeDoux’s 50th anniversary of ordination. The Soulful Voices Choir did not wear robes, but dressed as individuals. They looked like spring, and the Treme Brass Band played. It was all very beautiful.
I believe this Mass to have been a historic event, as St. Augustine’s was actually closed by the Diocese last year. You can see the energetic and highly communicative Fr. LeDoux speaking in 2006, and read his words in defense of his parish, right here. Here are photos of his last regular service. Fr. LeDoux maintains that the spirits are in this church. It is true; you can feel their presence.
The service was like a family reunion for the congregation, and everyone in this large group shook a lot of other peoples’ hands. I was “blessed in Christ” so many times, and had the “peace of God” placed upon me by so many people that I began saying it back. I got purified and strengthened, but this was done by the spirits – although they may be covered with Western faces.
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Therefore do not think that I have suddenly gone Catholic. You do realize that the Pope recently claimed that colonization purified the Indians, who were silently longing for Christianity and, apparently, enslavement – right? Now (P)resident Calderón of Mexico is visiting this Pope – a bad sign given who they both are.
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Today’s picture is of the Tomb of the Unknown Slave, St. Augustine’s Catholic Church, 1210 Governor Nicholls Street, New Orleans, LA 70116.
Axé.
coldhearted scientist وداد 
Cardinal Ratzinger Sliding Down into Hell, El Greco, c. 1600.
You do realize that the Pope recently claimed that colonization purified the Indians, who were silently longing for Christianity and, apparently, enslavement – right?
That zany Pope, one never knows what he is going to say next.
Good grief.
“silently longing for Christianity”
And he knows this…how?
My questions about the situation of your friend, the prisoner, are: 1) what protected everybody else from the disease, if he didn’t know he had it; and 2) isn’t is constitutional law that prisoners have to be afforded treatment for any ailment? They may not have told him because the medications are pricy.
Hello professor. Thanks for mentioning me. I hope your weekend went well. The photo you posted is very thought provoking. It makes me want to know the story of the person entombed.
Tom – what a great reinterpretation / retitling of that El Greco – I may have to create a post about that, crediting you of course!
Kitty – “zany” is about the right word and it puts him in his place. With him in the Vatican and Sarkozy in charge of France, Europe is going to the dogs, I say.
Stephen – the weekend was great! *And* I got blessed by the spirits – and the parishioners of course – in that Mass. I could write a whole long description of it and probably should. The tomb is new, by the way – erected in 2004 to commemorate slaves who were randomly hung and/or died.
CS – on the silent longing, that comment is based some form of neoplatonism which was rampant around the time of El Greco (see Tom’s comment, above). It is simultaneously a way of justifying colonization *and* claiming humanity for the Indians: although they did not know Christ etc., they were living in a “Christian” (moral) way, they had the idea of a supreme being, etc., they just hadn’t gotten the good news.
On the prisoner: 1) He may have infected other people, since he didn’t know he had it. But then again he’s on death row which means he’s in solitary and pretty isolated. 2) I thought it was constitutionally mandated everyone receive treatment for whatever. But they told him that the medications are too pricey and that is why they didn’t tell him he was sick. Now they have ordered another blood test, which will take a few months to actually get done.
I own stalkers as well.
–I don’t get this comment, Andy – what do you mean? –Z
Tell me more of Treme. How is that neighborhood after the flood? I know St. Augustine, I used to stay on St. Claude when I visited the city years ago.
Treme – it has some damage but not too much, and then it has long had run-down parts. It is not yet entirely inhabited. Good feel of course and some of it is very beautiful. It is supposed to be gentrifying but still seems very old-timey to me. It is not nearly as cheap to buy in as it once was – I *so* should have bought there years ago. It is where I would like to acquire a (second) house now if I possibly could – beautiful, unpretentious, very New Orleans, and well located to get everywhere in the city and to points west, where I work.
Not much, Professor, I was thinking on the Church and property rights and what is involved in such equation… Thank you for posting this.