The EastEnder Notes

How I remember 9/11 (via Fountain’s Pen)

09 Sep 2011 Leave a Comment

by EastEnder Notes in Dispatch from Pin's friends

The rest of the story from Ken.

http://kenfountain.wordpress.com/2011/09/09/how-i-remember-911/

I was in bed, listening to the radio.

For years, I’ve started the day listening to the morning news on National Public Radio, sometimes for an hour or so before getting up. And on that day, like many, my attention drifted in and out, in a sort of half-dream state. I remember hearing vague references to the World Trade Center and thinking that this must be some kind of retrospective on the 1993 bombing…. [Read More]

via Fountain’s Pen

Forsooth, Houston, the play’s the thing (via Fountain’s Pen)

06 Aug 2011 Leave a Comment

by EastEnder Notes in Dispatch from Pin's friends

Read http://theeastenders.wordpress.com/2011/08/06/stage-2011-houston-shakespeare-festival/ for photo links.

Last night, I took in the Houston Shakespeare Festival’s production of The Taming of the Shrew at Miller Outdoor Theatre. The production, like most I’ve seen by the festival, was first-rate, reminding me once again how vital the festival and the theater are in Houston’s cultural scene. As an essay in my battered Complete Works makes clear, this is one of the Bard’s more troublesome plays, in light of current attitudes. The “Shrew” of the title is … Read More

via Fountain’s Pen

Are they "douchebags"? (via A Free Faith)

03 Aug 2011 Leave a Comment

by EastEnder Notes in Dispatch from Pin's friends

my friend (and UU minister) Christian Schmidt has started blogging. you are missing out on some excellent writing and musings if you are not subscribing to his blog.

Yes, they are. I’m usually not a big fan of name-calling, though I have been guilty of it more than a few times. But the story of Avery Doninger struck me as pretty ridiculous. Doninger, a high school student at the time, referred to school officials as “douchebags” in a blog post after they basically forced the cancellation of an event she had planned at the school. They did so on the day the event was supposed to occur. As punishment for her bl … Read More

via A Free Faith

Dispatch from Japan: 10 Days at Tohoku

13 Jul 2011 Leave a Comment

by EastEnder Notes in Dispatch from Pin's friends

(July 13th, 2010)

My friend, Masatoshi Okuno, spent some time at Tohoku. Short dispatch from the ground.

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June 23rd:
after all these waiting days, I am finally going to the Tsunami-struck area in the North-East Japan. our plan is to visit people living there, mingle with them, just listen, listen, listen to what they have to say, and see what we can do to make them feel just a little better. Like Never before in my life time, I am scared, but determined and motivated.

July 13th:

10 day hard trip to Tohoku. worked all days with local volunteer workers, bringing food and comodities to the people who are left behind at hard-hit areas.it’s summer here in japan. and it’s hot!! Japan is a beautiful country. but it is not the “rising sun” country that roared the world some decade ago. with less money and less man-power, this country will have a long long way to rebuild this place.

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more photos at:  http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.247945985216596.72927.100000035906434