more to read

I am excited that today's mail brought a copy of my friend Martin S. Cohen's new book. It is entitled
"To Speak the Truth, Stories 2011-2023" on first glance it looks amazing. I will tell the story of how Martin and I met each other some twenty-five years ago. That friendship was probably the last thing that the ansti-semites who desecrated the Beth Tikvah synagogue in Richmond, B.C. imagined would result from m spray painting horrendous threats on the exterior of the synagogue. There is more to the story of our friendship. Suffice it to say that even though Martin, is now a rabbi in Roslyn, New York while I remain near Richmond in South Surrey, B.C. We enourage and support and learn from each other via email that helps us span the continent and the years. In the  process we had team taught courses that explored Christian Jewish dialogue through the lens of our friendship.

on to reading adventures

As I continue to struggle with memory issues in daily life I also continue to be able to enjoy reading as an ongoing adventure. I have started in on the collected works of Flannery O'Connor, renowned for her fiction that is labelled as "Southern Gothic". Flannery writes as a southerner and a Catholic, and of a world haunted by outbreaks of grace. I had been a fan of hers years before I found myself a student at Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Georgia. There I discovered that my room-mate  could recite my favorrite O'Connors' short story - Revelation - by memory.

This journey along my bookshelf brings me to a collection of the writings of Joan Didion. I know her book "The Year of Magical Thinking" but I have not read many of her other writing - through which she became known as one of the founders of "new journalism". Feel free to send me a note recommeding other authors I might add to to my reading journey.

frustrating

 I am just back from another stretch in hospital.  Pneumonia struck witrhin hours and I was taken by ambulance for a week long stay in the hospital. I guess rhis is what can happen when one if immuno compromised. It is frustrating and scary. I made it  through thanks to such care at the hospital and he prayers and words of so many of you. I made it home in time to celebrate my 70th.  Now to continue with masking and hand washing as we have been doing for years now. Thanks for your kind words posted here. Take care, Ed.

Well that came out of the blue

A year ago when we wished one another Happy New Year to welcome in 2023 little did I know that in 2023 would bring a diagnosis of Alzeimer's Disease. When that news was delivered it came as a shock but by then it didn't come as a surprise given the symptoms I had been experiening (such as the hard time I am having typing and posting this update). It is very scary (even terrifying) when you find yourself lost in your own home. Amnesia ( continues) to be a powerful metaphor for the situation that the church find itself in ... lost in our own home. One of the gifts that I have experienced in this Alzhemer's journey so far is that I am able to enjoy reading and to comprehemd the texts. These have iave included biographies of Abraham Lincoln and of John Brown, also a Journal of the Plague year by Daniel Dafoe as well as a fascinating history of 17th Century England.(titled "Rebellion: The History of England from James 1 to the Glorious Revolution" by Peter Ackroyd. Such a fascinating history that is easily lost to our collective memory. Now 1 am on to rereading the Brothers Karamazov. I also read "God's Secretaries" - A beautifully written story of the creation of the King James Bible, the continuing good news is that targeted oral chemotherapy continues to keep multiple myeloma and amylodiosis at bay, Now its a matter of coming to terms with two incurable diseases. I am not sure how long I will be able to keep blogging about this experience, but I am going to try. Maybe I will surprise myself.

Thanks for your supportive and encouraging comments. They mean a lot to me.