Author: Rev. Joe Dirt

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Interesting Cultural Difference

In my Spanish class this morning we were practicing the grammatical structure used in Spanish when talking about hypothetical situations.  My teacher kept pushing me for more examples, and I was struggling to come with some after the first rush of inspiration.  So I made up one about growing horns and chasing Señora around the house…thinking I was talking about being a bit randy (or horny, if you prefer) which, lamentably, is occasionally hypothetical as I continue this head long rush of aging.

“Oh Señor, I am so sorry,” my teacher said to me.  Apparently in Mexico and probably other Hispanic countries when they say a man has grown horns it means his woman is running around on him behind his back aka he is being cuckolded.  But it can apply to the woman too.  He showed me a painting by the Mexican artist, Frida Kahlo, of herself,  as a deer, with a huge rack of antlers and her  body pierced by many arrows.    Her husband, the Mexican muralist, Diego Rivera, was famously a less than faithful spouse.

Vive les différences culturelles.

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Quote of the Day – Blaise Pascal

“All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” ~~ Blaise Pascal

 

 

To see more Quotes for Day, visit this link: Quotes for the Day

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Paul Prudhomme’s Poor Man’s Jambalaya

I love this recipe.  I made a batch for Señora and I tonight.

This recipe is from one of Paul Prudhomme’s cookbooks which is what I used.  I did find it at  Food.com so I could avoid typing all the ingredients and directions.

I should have taken the picture before we ate half of the skillet of jambalaya.

Paul Prudhomme’s Poor Man’s Jambalaya

Ingredients

Seasoning Mix

  • 4 small bay leaves
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon white pepper
  • 1 teaspoon dry mustard
  • 1 teaspoon ground red pepper (preferably cayenne) – definitely on the spicy side – you can cut this down a little, but I don’t
  • 1 teaspoon gumbo file (file powder) (optional)
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves

Continue reading “Paul Prudhomme’s Poor Man’s Jambalaya”

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Saint Augustine and Anti-Semitism

It probably says more about my naivety than anything else, but I did not discover that there was such a thing as anti-Semitism, prejudice against Jews, until I was a freshman in college.  That year the entering freshman class at the University of Rhode Island was huge, and in the economy dormitories they were housing three students in rooms meant for two.  In mine, besides myself, there was Continue reading “Saint Augustine and Anti-Semitism”

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Nice Compliment?

I have started working with a new iTalki.com teacher on my Spanish language learning journey, a young accordion player – accordions being prominent in Mexican music – from Guadalajara, Mexico.  He has a Masters in French, but teaches Spanish online as there is more demand for it and he can charge more. Besides Spanish and French, he also speaks some Italian and wee bit of Arabic.  While he speaks English, he does not list it on his iTalki profile as he is after more advanced students. As he said to me, he does not want to be someone’s dictionary.  I know he lived in Chicago for a while, actually not too far from Barrington.  However, given the size of the Hispanic community in the Chicago area, it would be very possible to live there and only speak Spanish.

The other day for some reason he asked me what I thought of my Spanish. Being the wise ass that I am I used the line I use with waiters in Mexican restaurants, hablo español como un perro negro, I speak Spanish like a black dog. It never fails to elicit a laugh from a waiter.  I went on to say, in Spanish, that I speak a very Gringo type of Spanish, and I wish I was more fluid than I am.

His reply to me was, “I just wish my English was as good as your Spanish.”  Of course, I have never conversed with him in English to know the level of his English skills  but nevertheless I am going to take it as a compliment.

And so it goes.

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Reconsidering JFK – A Wondrium Course

If you are of my generation or older you remember the day President John F. Kennedy was shot, 22 November 1963.  I was in 6th grade at an elementary school in Toms River, New Jersey. It was the first time in my educational career that I had had a male teacher.  He was a very tall, skinny man who I remember mainly because he was male and his reaction to the Kennedy news.  When they announced over the loudspeaker that the President had been assassinated, this man cried.  However, when I raised my hand after Continue reading “Reconsidering JFK – A Wondrium Course”

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Quote of the Day – Zen Proverb

“The foolish reject what they see. The wise reject what they think.” ~~ Zen Proverb

 

 

To see more Quotes for Day, visit this link: Quotes for the Day

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Rev. Joe’s Random Thought #2,688

yeah I know you did not ask!

I was doing yoga style stretches before launching into more vigorous, traditional exercises in our basement gymnasium area.  As I was doing so my various joints were snapping,cracking and popping so loudly and so often that I thought I was consuming a bowl of Rice Krispies.

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Word of the Day – Oblation

  • Noun:  Oblation
    1. the act of making a religious offering
      specifically, capitalized : the act of offering the eucharistic elements to God
    2. something offered in worship or devotion : a holy gift offered usually at an altar or shrine
  • Synonyms:
    1. gift
    2. offering
    3. presentation
    4. sacrifice
  • Usage:
    1. “We say [ Christian rulers] are happy if they rule justly; if … they are not inflated with pride, but remember that they are but men… if they do all this not for a burning desire for empty glory, but for the love of eternal blessedness; and if they do not fail to offer to their true God, as a sacrifice for their sins, the oblation of humility, compassion, and prayer… then we can call them happy in hope. “
  • Encountered:
    1.  While watching the Wondrium course, Books That Matter: The City of God. A book written by St. Augustine in the early 400s that is considered one of the seminal works of Christian theology and philosophy.

To see more Words of the Day, visit this link: Words of the Day

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Missouri religious leaders sue to overturn Missouri’s ban on abortion

One of the guiding principles of my life is live and let live.  If I were being honest, I would have to admit to falling short of this goal far too often, but it is a light I steer towards.  In that same vein I have a mantra I recite whenever I am speaking or thinking about religious beliefs or sexual orientation, “Life is tough, whatever gets you through the day, whatever gets you through the night.”

My issue with many Christians, especially Evangelicals and Catholics, and Continue reading “Missouri religious leaders sue to overturn Missouri’s ban on abortion”