Greek Fest: Church and Icons

There is a church just off of Highway 151.  It is Assumption Greek Orthodox Church and it is lovely.  It was founded by Greek immigrants who settled in Madison, so the congregation is very fond of the heritage.  Every summer they hold a small two-day fair called Greek Fest.  Mostly what it consists of is Greek food, music, and a tour of the sanctuary (just decorated with icons).  It's small, but awesome.

I shared a plate of various Greek foods with my dad and little brother.  This sampler included meatballs, a cheese phylo, a spinach pie, dolmades (stuffed grape leaves), shish-kabob, and bread, plus some loukoumades (Greek honey puffs).  We ate our lunch outside, so we were able to listen to some Greek music (while trying to ignore the unbearable heat). 

The Eastern Orthodox denomination holds a unique place in Christian history.  Unlike the western church which changed considerably over the past several centuries, the Eastern Orthodox church has remained relatively unchanged in terms of art and tradition.

This denomination places a huge emphasis on icons.  In fact, the artist who painted the icons in the church still has a few more to paint.  I can't list all the icons in the church, but I'll try to name a few. 

Pictured in the Pendentives (four triangles surrounding the dome), are the Four Gospel Writers: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.  Each of them is shown in a sort of study where they are writing their gospels.

There are many icons along the walls of the sanctuary (Saints Anne, Paraskevi, and Theadore Tyron to name a few).  These icons are on either side of the pews.  Back in Europe, the church sanctuary is standing room only.  Here, they put in pews so that people can sit down, which is logical considering that the average Orthodox liturgy can last for more than an hour (I'm understating the case here because some liturgies go for six hours!). 

The dome icons consist of important figures from the Old Testament (Noah, Abraham, Sarah, and King David being a few of them).  The icon at the top of the inside of the dome itself portrays Jesus.  Apparently the dome is supposed to represent Heaven (hence why Jesus is shown at the top).

The icons surrounding the alter are the ones that really hold your attention.  The icon you first notice when you walk in the door of the sanctuary is the one of the Virgin Mary, her title in this church being "Mother of God".  However, as much as she's called "the bridge between Heaven and Earth, Mary does not hold the same position in the Orthodox church as she does in the Catholic church.  She is seen as one of us; a human being with flaws.  She is portrayed holding the infant Christ and her halo is made of gold leaf.  In front of her icon is a Eastern style crucifix. 

I recommend Greek Fest for anyone who wants to find something to do at the end of July in Madison.  It's got great food, music, and church history.

FINALLY!

That absolutely torturous Sociology class is DONE!  Oh man, it has felt like being in the Pliocene Epoch sea, in the middle of the night, with a crazed megalodon about to attack, and the only protection is a damaged shark cage. 

My main issue with the subject is that it claims that almost everything about male and female behavior is due to socialization (when most of their behaviors are natural), that inequalities are always unnatural (some are, some aren't), and that everything is relative (also untrue).  If I have to deal with that crazy idea again, someone is going to find themselves forced to watch bad movies.  Well, that last line is just a joke, but I seriously can't stand to listen to these sorts of things. 

Now it's over and I've got several weeks of vacation before next semester starts up. 

The EASTLAND Disaster

Forget the Titanic!  Here's a maritime disaster from the 20th Century involving Americans that happened in our own waters.

On this day in 1914, the Western Electric Company of Chicago rented some boats for an excursion on the Chicago River; one of those boats was the steamer known as the Eastland.  Unfortunately she was a "tender" ship as she had no keel, was top-heavy, rode high in the water, and had a tendancy to list.  To make matters worse, in the aftermath of the Titanic sinking, more lifeboats were added the Eastland making her even more top-heavy than she had been previously.

There were so many passengers who boarded the ship that day that the Eastland suddenly capsized onto her port side.  845 people drowned in the river. 

Frankly, this is much more interesting than the Titanic disaster.  There were ordinary working people involved and not the rich and famous, and this was even more preventable than the iceberg incident.  Also the Eastland was still tied to the dock when she capsized.

Dane County Fair

My mom took me and one of her Chinese friends to the Dane County Fair today.  It was hot, so we started with the indoor exhibits first before going to the barns to see the animal exhibits.

This fair is in my opinion, the best one in Madison.  It is a youth fair, so the main exhibits are shown by children.  Woodworking, rabbits, horses, natural science, and sewing are just  few of the many catagories of exhibits at the fair.  My little brother and I have both shown exhibits at the Dane County Fair in previous years.  However, neither of us is in 4-H anymore so we stopped showing exhibits at the fair (which is a real shame because showing an exhibit at the fair is a lot of fun).

The animal exhibits are in the barns across from the exhibition halls.  Kids show horses, sheep, rabbits, and other animals.  On a certain day of the week during the fair, the kids show their animals to the judges to see whether or not animals are well cared-for.  For example, the rabbits must have good teeth, healthy fur, clean ears, etc..  Or, for another example, kids showing horses must be show that they can control the horse, even if the animal gets fussy.

The natural science posters are always interesting.  This year someone made a poster on different kinds of bullets in a hunting gun.  Another child made a poster on bees, and another one exhibited a bug collection. 

Cake decorating is the really fancy one in my opinion.  They exhibitors don't frost real cakes because they won't last very long exposed like that.  Instead, they decorate a box.  This is just to show how well they can decorate a cake.  And some of those cakes can be pretty wild.  This year someone made a Scooby-Doo  cake complete with model of Scooby about to have a peice of the cake, and the cake itself is a rotating disk.

We didn't do the rides because we didn't have time.

Wreck of the EDMUND FITZGERALD

This song by Gordon Lightfoot tells the story of the 1975 sinking of the ore carrier ship, the Edmund Fitzgerald.  

The Great Lakes are often battered by storms in late autumn, especially in November.  Lakes Superior, Michigan, and Huron tend to get the worst of these gales, which involve hurricane-force winds, 40-60 ft. high waves, and freezing rain and/or snow.

On November 10th, 1975, the Edmund Fitzgerald  was making her last voyage of the season on Lake Superior.  During the night, she sailed into a late-autumn storm.  Despite being equipped with the best state-of-the-art technology, she still went down with all hands on board.  She lies in two pieces at the bottom of the lake; her stern section is upside down.

John Kass on Botox and Children

John Kass, a columnist for the Chicago Tribune hit the nail on the head when he said that kiddie beauty pageants should be shut down.  A lot of moms are trying to make their daughters into perfect models at a way-too-early age. 

Back in May, there was an outrage over a lady who used botox on her eight-year-old daughter because the girl had "wrinkles". The girl is eight-years-old, and wrinkles don't exist on small children. 

Also, by giving the girl botox injections, she's basically saying that beauty comes before character, which is a highly screwed-up way to look at yourself.  Botox can also be damaging to the body as well. 

All I can say is, may God forgive that woman. 

A Clarification

In a previous post, I ranted about how I can't stand it when people think that it is problem that women are not really encouraged toward stuff like engineering and stuff like that.  To clarify what I was saying, men and women are different physiologically, and since the brain is not separate from the body, they're mentally different as well.
So, when I hear people say that we're socialized to think that women are different mentally from men, it makes me really upset.  Men can do some things better than women and vice versa.  

Sermon on Esther

The sermon tonight was on the first two chapters in the book of Esther.  The point of the message was that God is always at work.

Before we meet Esther, Vashti is queen.  The king throws a huge party just to show off how powerful and rich he is.  He displays his splendor throughout the whole empire.  While he is drunk, he calls for Vashti, who refuses to come.  The king gets angry and kicks her out of the palace forever.  What is God doing through all of this?
When we first meet Esther, she is an orphan who has been raised by her older cousin, Mordecai, the man who sits at the king's gate.  She is among many young girls selected to come before the king.  She spends a year in beauty treatments, and then is called before the king.  When the king sees her he loves her more that the other women.  He marries her and makes her queen.  What is God doing in through all of this? 

What's most important is that God works in many ways.  Sometimes it's through miracles, more often it's more subtle and harder to notice.  But God's purpose is not to entertain us.  His purpose is to work in us, through us, and for us, and that requires faith.  And faith is not about waiting for a big flash-and-bang miracle to solve our problems.  It's about trusting God to know what He's doing, and to do what He says and to follow him.

Juan Diego Florez

If there was anyone in the world who could make you feel like you were the only other person in the room, it's this Peruvian singer.  He is the best, sexiest, and most amazing tenor in the world.  The first time I had even heard of him, I was watching a documentary online about the late Luciano Pavarotti.  I was sixteen.  Later that school year, I went to see Donizetti's opera, La Fille du Regiment. This guy sang the male lead. 

Now it's been three years since I first heard Juan Diego Florez sing.  He has replaced Orlando Bloom as my fangirl L.O. and I must say, there is no other like him.  I have seen him in Rossini's Le Comte Ory, and I have a DVD of his performance in Don Pasquale, another Donizetti opera.  I have seen various videos of him on YouTube.  And I also have two of his CD recordings: Sentimiento Latino, and his latest sacred arias recording, called Santo.

I have been to the website about him.  If you haven't heard of him, you need to fix that.  This guy is my number one favorite opera singer.  There are few others like him; he can sing the most difficult Rossini pieces, including songs that are often omitted from performance because they're considered too hard for the singer to handle.  He can out-sing that wimp Justin Bieber by 100%.

Marx Brothers

These guys were the best comedy group the world had ever seen; actually, they could out-funny the most popular comedians today.  Their names were Groucho, Harpo, Chico, and Zeppo.  One talked too much, one didn't talk at all, one spoke Italian, and the other sang. 

Another One Rides The Bus

Aside from being a song parody by Weird Al, what I am talking about is a very awkward ride on a Madison Metro bus this afternoon.  I was with my dad and we were going to ride the bus to his parking spot near the Yahara river bridge.  However, we wound up sitting apart from each other because there weren't many spots available.  To make matter worse, it soon go to standing room only.  This meant that for every one passenger that got off, three got on.  So it was crowded as all get out before more than four got off the bus.  Dad and I were able to get to the parking spot, but I swear I'll never ride the bus at rush hour again.

Fourth of July

Well, if there's any holiday here in America that people use as an excuse just to get the family together and have a nice big barbecue dinner, it's this one.  This day commemorates the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776 during the American Revolution.

The Flags of Freedom parade was yesterday.  Sun Prairie always has the big parade on a Saturday for some reason.  We are also having Chinese students coming over to have dinner with us tomorrow.  I've always wondered about that, but hey, we do it, so there.

I also don't have work or class tomorrow, which means I can sleep in (if my parents will let me).

I would also like for my neighbors to stop popping big fireworks within the city limits.