a little of this, a little of that
Jul 25th, 2009 by Ron Dauphin
When I need a little peaceful relaxation, I don’t usually look to the web. But I found it here.
Kuroshio Sea – 2nd largest aquarium tank in the world – (song is “Please Don’t Go” by Barcelona) from Jon Rawlinson on Vimeo.
Click the “four arrows” to view it full-screen.
Jul 5th, 2009 by Ron Dauphin
It’s been a rough week, but here’s a bright spot. The Cleveland newspaper, The Plain Dealer, picked up one of my Holy Land photos to include in their Travel section. If you have the Sunday paper (July 5), it’s on page 2 of Travel.
Sunrise on the Sea of Galilee
More Holy Land photos are found here.
Jun 23rd, 2009 by Ron Dauphin
From Regina Spektor’s new album, Far
No one laughs at god in a hospital.
No one laughs at god in a war.
No one’s laughing at god when they’re starving or freezing or so very poor.
No one laughs at god when the doctor calls after some routine tests.
No one’s laughing at god when it’s real late, their kid’s not back from that party yet.
No one laughs at god when their airplane starts to uncontrollably shake.
No one’s laughing at god when they see the one they love hand in hand with someone else and they hope they’re mistaken.
No one laughs at god when the cops knock on their door and they say “We got some bad news, sir.”
No one’s laughing at god when there’s a famine, fire, or flood.
But god could be funny…
at a cocktail party while listening to a good god-themed joke,
or when the crazies say he hates us and they get so red in the head,
you’d think they’re about to choke.
God could be funny…
when told he’ll give you money if you just pray the right way,
and when presented like a genie who does magic like Houdini,
or grants wishes like Jiminy Cricket & Santa Claus.
God could be so hilarious. Haha. Hehe.
No one laughs at god in a hospital.
No one laughs at god in a war.
No one’s laughing at god when they’ve lost all they’ve got,
and they don’t know what for.
No one laughs at god on the day they realize
that the last sight they’ll ever see is a pair of hateful eyes.
No one’s laughing at god when they’re saying their goodbyes.
But god could be funny…
at a cocktail party while listening to a good god-themed joke,
or when the crazies say he hates us and they get so red in the head,
you’d think they’re about to choke.
God could be funny…
when told he’ll give you money if you just pray the right way,
and when presented like a genie who does magic like Houdini,
or grants wishes like Jiminy Cricket & Santa Claus.
God could be so hilarious.
No one laughs at god in a hospital.
No one laughs at god in a war.
No one laughs at god in a hospital.
No one laughs at god in a war.
No one’s laughing at god in a hospital.
No one’s laughing at god in a war.
No one’s laughing at god when they’re starving or freezing or so very poor.
No one’s laughing at god.
No one’s laughing at god.
No one’s laughing at god,
we’re all laughing with god.
Jun 22nd, 2009 by Ron Dauphin
This is the best news I’ve heard in a long time! 
Jun 15th, 2009 by Ron Dauphin
St. Mary Magdalene Russian Orthodox Church, Jerusalem
Click photo to enlarge.
Jun 12th, 2009 by Ron Dauphin
Anne Frank
Today’s her birthday, June 12. Anne Frank, had she lived, would be 80 today.
A few years ago, a highlight of my trip to Amsterdam was a visit to the Anne Frank House. It’s not a house, really, but a business site–an old Dutch canal building–that happened to have hidden living quarters at the back. Anne and her family (father, mother, and sister) left Germany and made it their secret home when the Nazi movement began deporting Jews to concentration camps. They opened their hiding place to the Van Pels family and Mr. Pfeffer, a family friend.
I climbed the steps hidden behind a movable bookcase and entered the small annex where the Frank family lived from 1942-44. I stood in the bare kitchen and tried to picture 8 people sharing this space. I lingered in the tiny bedroom decorated with Anne’s pictures and Hollywood magazine cutouts and girly scribbles. I wandered near the window where you can see the spire of the Westerkirk church next door and mark the passage of time in the melodic but loud clanging of its bells. Anne wrote of those bells frequently.
3 August 1943
Shh… Father, be quiet, Otto.
At the strike of half past eight, Father has to be in the living room. No running water, no flushing toilet, no walking around, no noise whatsoever.
It’s half past two. As I enter the sitting room, the neighboring Westerkirk begins to play.
Her story has always moved me. As a parent, I imagine the fear of living in hiding with children. I can hardly bear the thought of my own children captive in the apartment, never permitted to go outside or even open the blackout curtain, bathing in the dark, spending days in silence. Yet Anne and her family (and others in hiding with them) somehow found opportunities for joy and celebration amid the terror. They played games, read books, and did lessons. Anne passed the time by filling her diaries with all the thoughts and questions of a typical 13-year old girl, writing with teenage passion and great honesty.
I think about the people who helped the families hide and brought food and supplies to them in the annex at the great risk of their own lives, and I wonder if I would have a smidgen of their courage.
Eleven million people died during the Holocaust, including 1,500,000 children. Six million Jews lost their lives. Others targeted included those from Slavic nations (Poles and Russians), so-called “Gypsies”, homosexual persons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, the mentally and/or physically disabled, and those with differing political philosophies (communists and socialists).
And then I hear of those who deny the Holocaust even existed. Frankly, it disgusts me. This week, a man walked into the Holocaust Museum in our nation’s capital–one of the finest museums anywhere–and opened fire. A known racist, the shooter had been vocal in his beliefs that the Holocaust never happened and, specifically, that The Diary of Anne Frank is fiction invented by Jews who want sympathy or power. To express his views, he killed a security guard at the Museum’s entrance filled with visitors before being shot himself.
Though I don’t have any personal connection with the Holocaust or any survivors, I do marvel at how it remains in the news so frequently even now. I’m glad, when it doesn’t involve more violence. It was a dark and shameful period of human history, and it must be remembered so that the mistakes of the past are not repeated. I remember it–though I was not alive when it happened–through the powerful words of a young girl:
4 Aug 1944 – found!
Betrayed – unknown by whom. Bookcase torn apart and secret entrance discovered.
It started out as a day like any other for the people in hiding. Anne’s father, Otto Frank, later wrote:
It was around ten-thirty. I was upstairs with the Van Pelses in Peter’s room and I was helping him with his schoolwork. I was showing him the mistake in the dictation when suddenly someone came running up the stairs. The stairs were squeaking, I stood up, because it was still early in the morning and everyone was supposed to be quiet – then the door opened and a man was standing right in front of us with a gun in his hand and it was pointed at us.”
The Frank family was loaded onto trains and separated to various camps. Anne and her sister Margot ended up at Bergen-Belsen. Conditions were deplorable and illness rampant. Anne and her sister are believed to have died of typhus in the spring of 1945, a few weeks before the camp was liberated.
+++
Political writer Mark Blumenthal has a very personal connection to Washington DC’s Holocaust Memorial and Museum, and shares it here.
Jun 7th, 2009 by Ron Dauphin
The moon shines in the morning light in the desert near Jericho
Jun 6th, 2009 by Ron Dauphin
Scenes from Jerusalem:
Dome of the Rock, Islamic mosque at the traditional site of Abraham's intended sacrifice of Isaac
Jun 6th, 2009 by Ron Dauphin
Scenes from Jerusalem:
Men praying at the Western Wall, also known as the Wailing Wall
Jun 4th, 2009 by Ron Dauphin
Fruit and vegetable vendors line the streets in the Muslim Quarter of Jerusalem's old city, where it's less tourist-oriented and more typical of life in the Middle East.
May 21st, 2009 by Ron Dauphin
An abandoned Orthodox Church in Galilee
This church, located just outside the ruins of Capernaum, was abandoned because it sits in “no man’s land”, territory under dispute during war.
May 20th, 2009 by Ron Dauphin
Yes, these are tough economic times, but I’ve found an investment that has really paid off for me. Through the website Kiva.org, I have invested a small amount of money to help a woman begin a hog farm. Rubylyn and her husband, who live in the Philippines, struggle to make a living, but they’re inspired by their 4-year old daughter to pull themselves out of poverty. They live in a “humble house without electricity.” She requested a loan for home repair and to purchase pigs. A local non-profit organization met with her, reviewed her application, and approved her goal, setting clear plans for repayment.
My $25 gift didn’t go very far in starting a hog farm, I’m sure, but my gift combined with $25 and $50 gifts from many other Kiva investors made it happen. Within six weeks, a portion of my investment was returned to me by Kiva with a note of appreciation. After twelve weeks, another note outlined how the venture is growing. After several months, Kiva notified me that my investment amount had been 96% repaid. The combined gifts helped a family desperately in need to get on their feet again.
As the loan is repaid, I have the option to use my $25 to help someone else or to reclaim my funds. I’m reviewing the possibilities. I’ve also helped a group of women set up a seamstress shop in Afghanistan, and helped purchase wood for a carpenter in Togo. My funds earn no interest (about the same rate my bank pays.) The feeling of making a difference is reward enough. It’s one of the best investments I’ve made in a long time. Care to join me?
May 20th, 2009 by Ron Dauphin
Banyas Falls, Galilee
Banyas Falls, Galilee
Banyas Falls, Galilee
May 19th, 2009 by Ron Dauphin
Church of St. Joseph, Nazareth
Cave beneath the church, thought to be the carpentry shop of Joseph in Nazareth
May 17th, 2009 by Ron Dauphin
Mary's Well, Nazareth, inside St. Gabriel's Orthodox Church
Basilica of the Annunciation, Nazareth, located over the site of Mary's home
Basilica of the Annunciation, Courtyard
Basilica of the Annunciation, Nazareth
Mary's House, Basilica of the Annunciation, Nazareth