Weekend Coffee Share

 

Weekend Coffee Share is a time for us to take a break out of our lives and enjoy some timely catching up with friends (old and new)!

If we were having coffee, I’d tell you about the talk i heard last night. My neighbor, Art Muir gave a talk about his Everest climb. At 75, Art’s the oldest American to reach the summit. He started mountain climbing at age 68 and has climbed several other high mountains. He first attempted Everest in 2019, but was injured and had to turn back. This time he made it. His photos ad videos were stunning. His narrative was witty, humble and fascinating.

I did discover another glorious church with stunning architecture, St. Gregory the Great. Built in 1924, the current building exemplifies the influence of Medieval Gothic (aka English Gothic). It’s a gem with a dedicated, albeit small, multicultural community. 

St Gregory the Great, 5545 N. Paulina, Chicago

I’m delighted that people have recommended more special churches to visit. This week I found a blog dedicated to a woman who visited 138 Catholic churches in the Chicago area (well, a couple were in Milwaukee, but that’s close enough). 

Back shrine

My library installed a new system for returning books using technology that cost well over $1,000,000. The first set of DVDs I returned did not get recorded as checked in. With this upgrade, through a window patrons can watch items travel through the system so I watched the DVDs. A couple days later, I got an overdue items email. I responded to the circulation department and they’ve taken it off my account. The problem is it looks like they removed the set from the collection. This was a 27 DVD collection and I planned to watch the other films down the road. Someone else requested it via a hold. So the problem isn’t really fixed if the set's out of the collection. I hope it gets fixed.

I attended the local school board meeting. Last month I saw the video of the proceedings including numerous comments on a controversial book with some passages many consider too risqué for sophomores. I did agree as some people read the racy-est passages. It looked like lots of people attended in June and few did this month. Those that spoke were passionate about their beliefs. The biggest problem I saw was that the school isn’t willing to compromise. There must be books that cover the social justice theme they want to teach that don’t have passages about sweaty bodies entwined or people sliding their hands down other people's pants. A workplace that assigned such a book would face charges of sexual harassment. It seems winning is more important to some than compromise. It’s mind boggling. Yet it's good that people have a forum to share their opinions in public. 

In both my tutoring sessions with Afghan women, I heard about the concerns now that the Taliban is flooding in. Nahid and her siblings are looking for a way to get out. She's hoping for a scholarship and wants to go to France where her brother is. She doesn't speak French so I don't know her chances. She will look for opportunities elsewhere. Homira is in Toronto, but has siblings still in Kabul. Other siblings are in Virginia and Malaysia. She told me that the Taliban is requiring that all single women age 16 - 45 must marry a member of the Taliban. Yikes. I haven't seen that in the news, but the coverage has been scant. We barely get international news of our neighbor Cuba. 

I stumbled upon a site for job seekers just in time for a webinar on free tech training. The site was National Able Network and they connect people with programs across the US. I'll be looking into their program on Data Analytics.

Have a good week ahead.

Thanks to Natalie, the Explorer for hosting.