Noose Flash

It's nice to see my birthplace in the noose, I mean news--especially in such a positive light. My brother emailed this story to me and I thought I'd share it. Leslie likes to remind me that I grew up in a place that was very different from a lot of places in more "mainstream" America. Thankfully it's usually not in reference to racism or other negative aspects of Southern life, but incidents like this and the whole Jena thing just serve to reinforce stereotypes. But let's face it, stereotypes are usually rooted in truth--I think that's part of what can make them so offensive. In other noose, I have to prepare a talk for Sunday. Apparently the family that was supposed to speak didn't think the first counselor was serious when he asked them a couple of weeks ago. Just FYI, don't be too good of friends with the members of the Bishopric. And never, ever give them your cell phone number.

ALEXANDRIA, Louisiana (CNN) -- A Louisiana city that hosted many of the "Jena 6" protesters Thursday became the site of a racially charged incident of its own.

A photo taken by I-Reporter Casanova Love shows a noose hanging from a pickup in Alexandria, Louisiana.

Authorities in Alexandria, less than 40 miles southwest of Jena, arrested two people who were driving a red pickup Thursday night with two nooses hanging off the back, repeatedly passing groups of demonstrators who were waiting for buses back to their home states.

The marchers had taken part in the huge protests in Jena that accused authorities there of injustice in the handling of racially charged cases -- including the hanging of nooses in a tree after a group of black students sat in an area where traditionally only white students sat.

The driver of the red truck, whom Alexandria police identified as Jeremiah Munsen, 18, was charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor -- a reference to the 16-year-old passenger. Munsen also was charged with driving while intoxicated and inciting to riot, according to the police report.

As officials were questioning the driver, he said he had an unloaded rifle in the back of the truck, which police found. They also found a set of brass knuckles in a cup holder on the dashboard, the police report said.

The passenger told police he and his family are in the Ku Klux Klan and that he had KKK tattooed on his chest, the police report said. He also said that he tied the nooses and that the brass knuckles belonged to him, the report said.

The report, filed by Officer F.R. Drewett, said he and another officer were standing with protesters awaiting their bus back to Nashville, Tennessee, when one of the group told him about a truck driving with nooses hanging off the back.

The truck was circling around town, repeatedly driving past groups of demonstrators, the report said. The officers pulled the pickup over and arrested two after searching the vehicle.

At least one of the nooses was made out of an extension cord, according to the police report. The driver and passenger are white, according to the police report. An entry in the report lists "Bias Motive: Racial Anti-Black."

Alexandria Mayor Jacques Roy said those involved were "from around Jena" and not from the same parish as his city. Roy said he is looking into whether the incident was a hate crime. A photograph of the truck was sent to CNN by I-Reporter Casanova Love, 26, who said he is in the U.S. military. He's visiting his family in Louisiana and said he witnessed the event. After the arrests, Roy came out to address the crowd and apologized, saying he does not condone racism, Love said. Love added, "If the police had not stepped in, I fear what might have happened." Love explained why he sent the photo to CNN: "People need to see this. It's 2007, and we still have fools acting like it's 1960." Roy said the matter is "not indicative" of Alexandria and that local authorities will look into it "completely, thoroughly and transparently." Some protesters saw another truck with a noose hanging off it, but authorities did not find the vehicle, according to the police report.

Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds

You may or may not have heard, but the Houston Museum of Natural Science is the first stop on Lucy's first tour of North America. This is only the third time "she's" ever been displayed--the other two times were in Ethiopia where she was found. Many people are not happy that she's been removed from her African home to be paraded around the US, but I am more than excited about it, and I can't wait to go see her. So a couple of days ago, I picked up Audrey from school and she was recounting a conversation she had with Braden (more about him in a subsequent post) in which she was telling him about the things she likes at the HMNS. "I was telling him that I like the skeletons of the woolly mammoth and the pterodactyl the best because I like the kind of scary things. Scary and ancient are the kinds of things I like." At that moment, without thinking I said, "Yeah, we need to go there soon because Lucy is going to be there." Her--"who's Lucy?" Me in my head--"how do you explain the concept of an early hominid to a six year old whose only frame of reference is a very literal understanding of the biblical story of The Creation?"

When I was about seven or eight years old, I remember my best friend's dad used to always like to talk to me about human evolution. They had some books about (ironically) Lucy, and he loved to tease me, in a good hearted sort of way about weather or not man evolved from monkeys. Back then, I was a strict Creationist, since I hadn't learned anything about evolution up until then. I don't really remember when I even was taught about evolution, but I don't ever remember thinking that it didn't jibe with my religious convictions. There was never a question of whether or not evolution has and continues to occur, because the evidence in the fossil record is pretty compelling. The organisms that are represented came from somewhere, and it just isn't coincidence that they show a pattern of change, right up to the flora and fauna found living today. I guess I've just never understood the point of view that evolution goes against the story of the creation found in Genesis. Or even more implausible, that the evolution of other animals occured, but somehow humans didn't evolve from earlier hominids.

I'm not saying that I have all the answers--it does put the story of the Creation in a precarious place. I can't explain how Adam and Eve were the first people. Some have hypothesized that earlier hominids didn't have spirits or something, and I don't know about that. I do believe that Adam and Eve are the parents of the human family, but I don't know what came before, or how the human family arrived at that point in time.

"Lucy is a skeleton that's millions of years old that was found in Africa. She was kind of like a human, but she lived a long time before humans were on the earth," I said. "Cool," was her reply. When we got home she ran to tell Parker "Parky, we're going to go see a skeleton at the Natural Science Museum that's millions of years old that was kind of like a human but not a human. Cool, huh?" Then later that night she came up to me and said, "what did they talk like if they weren't really like people?" The wheels had been turning.

I'm sure she will have a lot more questions after we actually go see Lucy. I'll keep you posted.

A sad commentary . . .

So I'm in desperate need of some new material to post. I thought I had a lot to post about, but now that I've got a forum, I'm kind of struggling. I guess it's easier to come up with responses than original material, thus the multiple accusations that my comments sections are more entertaining than the actual post. So here we are--this post is all about the comments. Leave your best observations, questions, comments etc. and we'll see just how entertaining this can really get. Especially if we can get some anonymous (or anyonomus for you Mike) comments to roll in.

Pedernales Falls

Okay, I realize I've been slacking in the blogging department. I guess I just don't have the talent for it. Anyway, you probably read over at the 'chain that we went to the Hill Country for the Labor Day weekend and we had a grand 'ol time. One of the highlights was going to the Pedernales Falls State Park. It is an area where the Pedernales River spills over some large limestone slabs. Needless to say Audrey and Parker loved it. You have to go down a series of stairs then pick your way through a fair amount of brush to get to the water. Every time we would get to the spot we were going to, Audrey would decide there was something else she HAD to see. We pretty much had to drag Audrey back to the car to leave. When we got back to the car, Parker kindly informed us all that "we're not really supposed to go see waterfalls on Sunday." Anyway, here are some pictures.