Virtual-Doug

Look Out, Sports Illustrated – Here I Come

Yeah – I keep busy.  I’ve decided that all those photos I take at high school sporting events should not be wasted.

Take a look at www.rgvsportspix.com.  Mom and Dad can wander around and find photos of their star athlete, then order photos.

To add more choices, I’ve asked a couple of photographer friends to work with me.  My only problem will be to watch my ego deflated as they take better photos than me.

Let me know what you think – would you buy a photo from the site if you were Mom and Dad?

Flowering of the Cross and Việt Nam

Easter at our church is a biggie for kids.  One of the most delightful customs is called “The Flowering of the Cross.”  A plain wooden cross is set up in the front of the altar.  Its not a very pretty cross – in fact, its kinda ugly – a small but accurate representation of crosses used to execute people two thousand years ago in the Roman Empire.

(Be sure to click on each photo – you will see a larger version.)

The little plain cross has rubber bands on it.  The purpose of the rubber bands is to hold flowers – flowers brought from people’s homes.  Before the services began, the children brought those flowers forward where they put them on the cross – with the help of some of the ladies of the church, of course.  In front of their own eyes, the kids created something beautiful from something ugly.  It’s pretty enough for families to have their picture taken next to it.

Take a close look at the flower in the center of picture.  It grows at our home, though the previous owner planted it.  The blooms seem to be on the bush almost all the time, as though it had no season.   I have no idea what it is called – nor does the Mystery Guest Blogger.

But we know what it is called in Việt Nam.

It is named “Trang.”

There are two Trangs in this picture – the smiling one is Trang, one of my former students and now an employee with IBM in Sài Gòn.  The other trang is, of course, the flower – the same as the one used to beautify the ugly cross.

Even here in deep south Texas, there was a little Việt Nam at Easter – a reminder that Easter is for everybody.

He is Risen

Okay – this would seem to be posted a day early, but in Việt Nam, Easter has already arrived.  Of course, the Vietnamese are used to getting up early – at most of the Catholic churches, the first Mass is at 5 AM every week – so a sunrise service is not a big deal.

This will be the first Easter we have celebrated here in America in four years.  Last year, we had just arrived in Huê to begin a month of work with MEDRIX.   We went to a “late” service (8 AM) and the message was just as joyful in Vietnamese as in our own English service at home.  Oh yes – it is very different – the men sit on one side of the sanctuary, and the women and children on the other (the Mystery Guest Blogger and I sat together)  and the building was warm (no air conditioning – another reason for early services), yet we knew what was going on when someone read from a book or well-scrubbed kids brought some bread and wine up to the priest.

Of course, in 2006 and 2005, we were living in Huê.  Seeing Christianity practiced through Asian eyes gave us a perspective of the wider scope of God’s grace. 

After a morning at our own church building where we helped others scrubbed the place up for The Big Day, we look forward to an Easter at home.

Yeah – its nice to be home, but then again, Việt Nam is home too.  Happy Easter, everyone.

The Mom Report

I have been wondering more and more lately – does Mom really know who I am, or does she just, at some basic emotional level, know I am someone important to her.

A few days ago, she was sitting in the lobby of her nursing home.  As I approached the glass door, we spied each other, and she waved her hands and flashed a big smile. 

While I signed in, the Director of Nursing (DoN) approached Mom and began to ask her the kinds of questions I can’t ask.  The DoN gave me a quick glance, and I knew she was doing the questioning for my benefit.  In short, she asked Mom who I was – if I was related to her – but the DoN did it in a non-threatening way that would not cause Mom to lose face.

Mom could not tell the DoN who I was.

Now, I can’t say that surprised me – I have suspected for some time that she cognitively did not know who I am, though she very much recognizes me when I walk in to visit her.  Neither has Mom recognized the Mystery Guest Blogger the last two times she has gone for a visit.  However, after Mom and I sat on the couch to begin the usual session of “wrassling”, Mom triumphantly looked at me and very distinctly said “You are my son.”

She was proud of being able to remember.  I was proud for her, but it is painful to have pride in something so child like.

I wish there were more to write about.  I know some of you are more than curious as to what she is like these days, but in all honesty, there is little to write about.  Her world has gotten terribly small, and it continues to shrink.

Physically, she seems to be hanging in there.  While she needs a walker all the time, even to go a few steps, she seems to be doing alright otherwise.  By pure coincidence, I was there recently when her physician came in (he is also my doctor), and we had a nice conversation while he checked her.  She eats well most days (that is an up and down thing, depending on the whims of the disease), and Dr. Vic said her blood pressure was fine.  She may have some trouble with her cataracts returning, but Alzheimer’s may render cataracts a non-issue.

And – life goes on – at least in my world it does.

Keepin’ Busy

Yeah – keeping busy.  That’s the real reason I haven’t posted lately – I’ve been having too much fun.

Unless you’ve been living in a cave, you know that Texas had a primary election recently.  In South Texas, local politics get pretty raucous.  One race for a state legislative office was particularly rough – at one polling place, the cops were called because the two candidates were going at it in the parking lot.  During early voting, anyone getting near the voting place was met with whistling and screaming – in Spanish.

(Be sure to click on the photos – you’ll see a larger version that way.)

Around here, we have a phenomenon called “Winter Texans.”  In Florida, they’re called Snowbirds. Escaping the harsh winters of the upper Midwest, these retirees enjoy the warm Rio Grande Valley.  This gentleman is 83, and retired from being a golf pro in Minnesota.  He still walks 18 almost every  day.  I took a lot longer taking the photo than I needed to – I just enjoyed nursing a cup of coffee and chatting with him and his buddies.

With the advent of spring sports, I’m not always shooting inside a “dimnasium” and it’s nice to get a daytime assignment too.  Of course, when I’m assigned to shoot a soccer game, I’m in deep trouble because I know nothing about the sport.  Nothing.  However, I know a good athlete when I see one.

Spring break starts this week for the public school students.  It’s a great time for kids to get in trouble, especially here in deep South Texas where South Padre Island is a mecca for hell-raining college students.  One student at a nearby high school lost a friend in January.  The buddy had just completed Marine Corps basic training, but died in a car wreck while home on leave.  From that sad experience came a school club promoting teen safe driving.

If you are a high school senior, you know your life is about to change – big time.  These three girls have lettered in varsity softball together for four years.  That’s quite an accomplishment. They’re good friends, and it was obvious as I was working with them during the shoot.  They kept insisting I take more photos – then I realized they were having more fun posing for the camera than they would practicing.  They laughed when I pointed that out, let me take one more shot, then went back to sweating in the sun.

Finally, I shot a track meet last Friday, but the start pole vaulter didn’t even make his first effort until the sun was low in the sky – low enough that the stadium lights were turned on.  The photo sums up the day.

America: Help Describe It

I got an interesting email today.  It was from a former student and friend in Việt Nam who is finishing up her Master’s degree in English at the University of Huê.  She is also an English teacher at the College of Foreign Language.  Though she was in a class I taught, I remember Ngoc mainly for shepherding me though the process of getting a Vietnamese driver’s license.

(Be sure to click on her picture - you will be able to see a larger photo.)

And Ngoc has a new assignment:  create the curriculum for a new course titled “Issues in American Population and Economy.”   She asked for some input and ideas for this new course.

So – I sent her an email.  Some of the ideas I gave her (along with a few links I found through Google) included:
•    The diversity of the American population.  The Vietnamese have only a small minority of hill tribes who make up only 15% of the population, and they are seldom found in a city.  That means Vietnamese only know other Kinh people. (Kinh are ethnic Vietnamese.)  I pointed out that in many school districts in America, there are large numbers of students who don’t speak English as their native tongue.  Where I live in deep south Texas, 85% of the population speaks Spanish as their primary language. 
•    I pointed out that America has a low birth rate, as many developed countries do, but that lately, the birthrate is picking up as more recent immigrants continue their traditional pattern of having large families.
•    I encouraged her to look at past patterns of assimilation of immigrants into the American population.  As an example, I pointed out Betty Nguyen, an anchor reporter for CNN, speaks no Vietnamese and looks more European than Asian primarily due to her makeup and clothing.
•    On the economy, I asked her to have students examine the true nature of the American economy.  Is it truly “capitalist”, or has it been modified a bit to protect the average person and the poor?  It certainly isn’t socialist and it certainly is market-driven, but raw, unbridled capitalism does not exist in America.
•    I urged Ngoc to examine what a “growth economy” really is.  Besides the fact that such an economy is based on consumerism, are there good and bad aspects of a growth economy?  Is the American economy a “growth economy?”  Is the Vietnamese economy becoming a “growth economy?”

Okay – that seemed to be a good start, and I clicked the “Send” button.  Then it occurred to me that some readers might be able to help Ngoc put together a curriculum.  Okay folks – post your comments and let Ngoc know what your ideas would be for a course in issues of American population and the economy?

(Hint:  The World Trade Organization recently admitted Việt Nam – is there something in there about the American economy?”)