Of Bobbins, Bug Spray, and Trump's Visit to a Lutheran School

--I smell of citronella candle smoke and bug spray.  We spent much of yesterday afternoon sitting on the porch--what a lovely day!  My spouse had been away at a Board of Trustees meeting, so it was good to catch up.

--I spent much of the week-end working on quilts for Lutheran World Relief.  Although I spent 6 hours, I still don't feel like I'm making much progress.

--However, I did learn how to place the bobbin in the slot of the sewing machine so that it operates properly instead of snarling.  That doesn't seem like such an accomplishment, but the directions and drawings in the manual took some serious deciphering.

--What did the rest of the week-end contain?  It was a good reading week-end.  I finished The Fellowship:  The Literary Lives of the Inklings and Inferno.

--It was a good writing week-end.  I got another piece for our Purgatory Project written.  I got 2 partial drafts of poems written.

--Over the week-end, I learned that today at 10 a.m., Donald Trump will speak at Lenoir-Rhyne, a small, liberal arts Lutheran college very much like Newberry College, my undergraduate school.  I have many thoughts about this, but the Bishop of the North Carolina Synod says it better than I can, with great eloquence, in his recent Facebook post.  Go here to read it.

--Why would Trump choose a small, liberal arts Lutheran school whose students are on Spring Break?  Was UNC-Chapel Hill closed to him?  Were there no community colleges willing to host him?

--I'm guessing that it shows how little he knows about religion in contemporary America.  I'm guessing he's thinking he's going to a right-wing Christian kind of school.

--I know that Lutherans all over the country have headed to NC to protest Trump's visit today.  I wonder if it will be the unruly kind of protest that we saw over the week-end.  If it's left up to the Lutherans, it will be polite and full of grace--perhaps some singing, but nothing violent.  If it's up to the thuggish elements that this candidate has begun to attract, well, all bets are off.

--I say that, but I don't believe it.  All bets won't be off when middle-aged to older, polite, religious people are attacked.  The whole culture can be changed--we saw this in the Civil Rights Movement.

--Meanwhile, my day is likely to be ordinary.  I am not unhappy about that--although part of me wishes I could be in North Carolina to witness events for myself--and to join my Lutheran brothers and sisters in resistance.