What can be more fun for adults and children on a warm summer evening than an open air carriage ride. Shaped much like Cinderella’s carriage, this carriage is a popular entertainment for tourists visiting the Plaza throughout the year. But it is a ride made for summer evenings.
The horses may be somewhat past their prime, but they are docile and patient and decked out with braided manes.
Just another beautiful experience for tourists to Kansas City.
Sunday morning Terry and I spent a wonderful hour on the grounds of the Kansas City Art Institute wandering among approximately 180 vintage automobiles and motorcycles. They included U.S., German, English, Swedish and Italian automobiles. Most were truly classics. Every one was worthy of a place in the show.
Even by arriving at 10 a.m., when the event opened to the public, we were surrounded by exhibitors, automobile enthusiasts and those who were merely curious to see this remarkable display of history. Many attend every year. Some were there for the first time.
The younger generations will not remember the “woody”, which is remarkable not only because of its exterior wood panels and funny shape, but also because of the songs that sing its praises. Even if you are under 50, maybe you have heard that great song: “I got a ’34 wagon and we call it a woody, surf city here we come” by Jan & Dean.
Well, this is a woody and it is pure nostalgia for me!
But there were so many wonderful and unique vehicles. The convertibles and “carriages” reminded me of “toad hollow” meets the “Great Gatsby”.
There is no vehicle built today that is as creative, colorful and has nearly the personality as this 1913 Hudson.
Or this one, that looks like it should be powered by a horse rather than an engine. I guess that is why they were called “horseless carriages”.
Last but definitely not least, here is another real beauty taken from Terry’s iPhone camera. The woman in the background taking a photograph of another wonderful antique is yours truly.
If nothing else I have written about Kansas City has persuaded you to travel to our fair city, maybe you will want to make a special visit to Kansas City for next year’s “Art of the Car Concours”.
I promise you will not be disappointed.
As I was driving through East Kansas City I came upon this beautiful, but broken, church. While the glass is gone from the window, even empty it is elegant and powerful. The gothic architecture is in some ways reminiscent of the finest cathedrals in Europe. The church spire still points to the sky.
I do not know what caused its destruction, whether it was simply a result of neglect, vandalism or fire. Even in ruins it symbolizes for me hope, loss and the potential for renewal. For a moment in time, it suggests a portal between the heavens and earth. But I know in my heart that this lovely building is lost forever.
In the Rime of the Ancient Mariner[1] , the narrator describes the lack of drinkable water while sailing on an ocean of salt water.
The lack of available safe, drinkable water can result from many causes: drought, when there simply is no available water; polluted water resulting from toxic waste and agricultural pesticides; water polluted as a result of inadequate treatment of sewage from human and animal waste and water that is too salty to drink.
Here in the Midwest, water surrounds us. We have lakes, rivers and streams. We swim in it, bathe in it, freely water our lawns and gardens with it, and simply admire it. But we are lucky.
Even in parts of the U.S., water is precious. But while water it California and other western states can be expensive, it is still available. In agricultural areas, particularly in areas of Texas, ponds may have plentiful water in the spring but dry by late summer.
In times of drought, the lack of water can ruin a crop or cause ranchers to sell off portions of their herds. Even then, safe water is almost universally available in the United States for human consumption.
World-wide, there is a different story. Roughly 10% to 11% of the world’s population, between 783 million to 1 billion people, does not have access to safe water[2]. In the developing world, 90% of sewage is discharged untreated into rivers[3]. 1.4 million children die every year as a result of diseases caused by unclean water and poor sanitation. This amounts to around 4,000 deaths a day[4]. The death rate from lack of safe water is greater than the death rate from war. The lack of water, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa also results in crop failures, frequent famines and also a significant factor in the loss of life of humans and animals.
In The World is Hot, Flat and Crowded, Thomas Freidman quotes Michael J. Sandel, a political philosopher at Harvard that: “’We have a responsibility to preserve the earth’s resources and natural wonders in and of themselves’ because they constitute the very web of life on which all living creatures on this planet depend.”
Clean water is not a partisan issue. It is not an issue that appeals only to those who are “left leaning” or “right leaning”. It is a human issue. We can clean water, dig wells to make it accessible, install pipes and faucets to move it around and make it easy to control the flow and movement of water. Most of all, we can care about the people for whom the availability of water is a life–and death–challenge.
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Our opinions, are our opinions alone, and do not represent the opinions of our employers, our friends, our relatives, our husbands, or even each other.
Biography: Carl Mesle is a retired minister with the Community of Christ Church in Independence, Missouri. He is my dad and Meg’s granddad. Carl has dedicated his life to his church and his community. He wrote and taught on creating healthy families and healthy children. He retired as Pastor of the Stone Church in Independence. At age 97 and in failing health, he wrote what he describes as his “final” letter to the editor of our hometown newspaper. It was published in the Independence Examiner, May 31, 2012.
The Power of Love is Transcendent
Love–sacrificial, caring love–is the greatest power in the world. It abolishes hate. It brings people together in caring communities. It provides the pathway to unity. It provides the power to bring couples together and to produce children in caring familities, and it offers the support of relatives and friends.
On the wider community level, it offers peace between nations and cultures and provides a mutually compatible relationship between humans, animals and the resources of nature. It eliminates warfare. It is expressed in the care of animals. It makes it possible for people to labor together to create buildings of beauty and sturdiness. It provides the foundation of human endeavors, which permit the exploration of the seas and the skies.
Loving and caring for oneself is also essential to living one’s best. Possibly the most exciting and satisfying element of love is expressed in the intimate, physical experiences in the sexual relationship of mating, but only when it is mutually sought and enjoyed.
There are several kinds of love, that of lovers, that in the everyday working of couples in marriage, that of a parent for a child, that of laying one’s life down for a friend, and that spiritual love exchanged between God and his worshipers.
Please note: the views expressed in this article are not necessarily those of the primary authors of Shifting the Balance. However, we think it is important to encourage the free flow of ideas in order to promote collective action and compromise. In order to keep the country “in balance” we believe we should all work together, and that means sharing and respecting ideas, including those that may be different from our own.
From X’ian, China, to its sister city, Kansas City, Missouri, come the Dragon Boat races, a wonderful cultural tradition.
The races are held under the “Sister Cities International Bridge”, where life-sized Chinese warriors guard the foot bridge as it crosses Brush Creek. The imposing bronze warriors are symbolic of the rich culture of China’s ancient civilization as well as the friendship between our cities.
Festive red ornaments crossing the bridge announce the 12th annual Dragon Boat races held Saturday, June 9, 2012. The races are part of an annual celebration of the friendship between the people of these two cities.
The celebration includes races involving local university students and corporate teams as well as representatives of China. The event includes a wonderful display of pageantry, speeches and a colorful dose of Chinese culture.
While the celebrations include a ceremony called “waking the dragon”, the dragons of most importance are the decorative dragons that embellish the front of each boat. These dragons are whimsical and colorfully painted.
At this year’s event, Mayor Sly James not only greeted visitors, he spoke to the crowd, encouraged the celebrants, and also agreed to be the drummer for Kansas City’s home town team. Way to go, Sly!
Here, a drummer beats the rhythm for the crew in the first race. The crew paddles as quickly, or as slowly, as the cadence of the drummer.
On this happy day there were no worries about the politics of our two countries, of the balance of trade, or of jobs lost and found. It was a celebration and a time of friendship. A good time was had by all.
Jake and I finally had a Saturday to ourselves this weekend, so we tried to come up with something wonderful and exciting to do. We were a little too exhausted to go on a new adventure, so instead we decided to do one of our favorite standby activities…head into Sonoma, drink some wine, and eat some truffle fries.
First we stopped at Cline Cellars, where we got married back in May 2010. We finished off our tasting with their Late Harvest Mourvèdre. It was a port-style red, paired with bittersweet chocolate chunks. Absolutely delicious!
After our tasting, we walked around the Cline grounds. We stopped at the fountain near the courtyard where we were married, and then the courtyard itself.
When we left Cline, we headed to downtown Sonoma, where we met our friend John at the Roche Tasting Room. Since we’re members at Roche, we do go there on the occasional Saturday afternoon. Today, we were delighted to see both John and Harry, who are always a joy to be around and very knowledgeable about wine. And of course, the day would not be complete without El Dorado Kitchen’s truffle fries.
Jake was feeling particularly adventurous at this point, so he decided to order a new favorite called a “Moscow Mule.” It has vodka, lime juice and ginger beer, and it is very refreshing. Mostly, I like the fact that it comes in a copper mug, and I thought it made for a great photo.
It was a great afternoon. I think sometimes we work so hard that we need to remember all the wonderful things to do in the area, and all the joys there are to experience. As we walked along the square, I looked over at one point and saw Jake leaning against the wall, happy as a clam. We really do love living here!
Biography: Sherry Mesle-Morain received her undergraduate degree from Tufts University, her Master of Education Degree from George Washington University, and her Masters in Social Work from Smith College School for Social Work. She began her career in financial aid for students at Nazareth College in Pittsford, New York. After raising two children she returned to academia at Graceland University in Lamoni, Iowa. She retired as the Director of Financial Aid Services for the university. Since her retirement she has focused on volunteer activities in Lamoni and, as she says found that people suddenly thought she could do anything. Her volunteer work with the Community Financial Support Coalition (FSC) guided her thinking to the subject of this blog.
Impact of Health Issues on Poverty in Rural Iowa
Life is good. Or, I should say, my life is good. I have a family I love and who loves me. We are kind to each other. I have more than plenty to eat and I have nice clothes to wear. I can afford the gas to drive to Atlantic to see my daughter and Kansas City to see my dad, my sister and my son. And I have energy to serve my community and to have fun. Not everyone in my small town in Southern Iowa is so blessed.
The City of Lamoni has some generous citizens who contribute to the Lamoni Community Financial Support Coalition (FSC), the mission of which is to provide modest emergency financial assistance to citizens in need—shifting the balance, so to speak. My stewardship with the FSC is to interview those folks who have requested financial assistance from our small pool of funds.
I began to sense that major medical issues were a primary factor in the lives of the people I meet with, but I know that hunches are not truth. Then I realized that I had the raw data to do a small statistical analysis of the reasons these good folks are in need of help. Of the 32 people seen, 75% of them or their children had medical issues that ate up their resources and/or kept them from working, at least temporarily, whether full-time or part-time. Their time off work was anywhere from a couple of weeks to a full year. One of the things that surprised me when I talked to people who had medical issues was that they took seriously their responsibility to pay their outstanding medical bills. Many used up their savings paying their bills and others were on payment plans that kept them in poverty. Some were on Medicaid, which relieved them of constant payments, but they still faced the fact of having no income because of their health issues. Occasionally someone had gone several days or a week without taking vital medications because they would not get paid for another week and could not afford to pay for their prescriptions. Four women were unemployed because of maternity leave. They not only could not work during those few weeks, but they also did not have paid maternity leave. And, of course, when they do go back to work they have to figure out-child care—who will provide it and how will they pay for it. This is a huge expense that eats up their minimum wage earnings.
Just a few days after I did this analysis I heard a news story on National Public Radio of a national study showing the same results. Both my analysis and the NPR story of April 20, 2012, by Jennifer Ludden verified my observation. There are three points Ludden made that I would like to share with you.
1) Two-thirds of women with young children now work. Nearly half are their family’s primary breadwinner. (Of the women I interviewed the majority were living with the fathers of their children, men who were either underemployed or unemployed. These are serious issues, but that is a subject for another day.)
2) Because so many companies do not offer paid sick leave or paid vacation, a mother who stays home to care for a sick child is at risk of being told not to return to work. If it is mom who is sick, she is in the same spot. She doesn’t get paid to stay home, so she can either care for her children herself when she is sick, or she can put them in day care and go to work sick so as to afford the child care.
3) Having a baby is a leading cause of temporary poverty. Many women with no maternity leave end up quitting their jobs to care for a baby. When they lose those needed jobs it is very hard to get back into the workforce.
While on the national level we have the necessary and intense discussions as to how to address unsolvable problems, how to manage the social safety net, and how to see to it that everyone gets health care, the people who request assistance from the Lamoni Community Financial Support Coalition are in real and immediate need: of diapers and wipes, of formula, of heat and water, of a place to live, of medical care, of gas to get to work and to medical appointments. The needs do not stop and they are real.
I am amazed at the resilience and optimism of these folks. But from time to time they need a helping hand to shift the balance in their favor.
Please note: the views expressed by guest authors are not necessarily those of the primary authors of Shifting the Balance. We do believe it is important to encourage the free flow of ideas and to promote collective action and compromise. In order to keep the country “in balance” we believe we should work together, and that means sharing and respecting ideas, including those that may be different from our own.
The Country Club Plaza is always beautiful. The seasons of the year and the time of day significantly impact the images that we see. These photographs were taken late in the evening, just after the sun set, but before it was completely dark. (These scenes are best viewed with your brightness setting on high.)
From the Fountain of Bacchus Sculpture, located at the Chandler Court at 47th & Wyandotte, is made of 10,000 pounds of cast lead.
The architecture throughout the Plaza is inspired by the architecture of Seville, Spain.
Night view of Broadway Bridge and Brush Creek, on the Country Club Plaza
The Statute of Ruth, representing the Biblical Ruth, is located at 48th & Wyandotte. It is formed from white Carrara marble.
I went for an early morning run the other day, right along the fence line on the east side of Petaluma. With everything going on lately, I find my morning runs to be the most relaxing.
It was a beautiful morning. The sun was coming up, the birds were chirping, and even the cows gave me a “good morning” nod as I passed by. I took this photo from my phone, right along my favorite running trail. It was a beautiful start to a beautiful day.
I hope you have a wonderful day!
Shifting the Balance 