America Rising - Faith

America is rising at the World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan. New York, once again (see photos below). I discovered just how much progress has been made a the World Trade Center when I went to New York Cit on October 9th, 2010 to see a Lord of the Rings movie backed by a Swiss orchestra and choir.
My son Josh took me (he's the more handsome and thinner one in the photos below). 

I was amazed to discover just how much progress had been made redesigning, recreating, and rebuilding the World Trade Center area. We saw thousands of families of foreign tourists all over the area enjoying themselves tin the sun taking pictures, eating well, and peacefully walking. Given how complex this project is to construct (see links below), it is a miracle they have been able to build all the underground layers and are now going skyward.
View photos, videos, and the story of the World Trade Center Rising.

Lower Manhattan Construction and Command Center

Our serendipity discovery was St. Peter's Parish death and resurrection at Ground Zero.

I thought it was the First Bank of the US. To my surprise, it was St., Peter's, a parish rich in history for 200 years before 9/11, during that event, and after (see photo's below). According to the priest I spoke with after mass, fortunately, after the Protestants burned the original St. Peter's during anti-Catholic riots in the late 1700's, the Catholics then rebuilt it with marble, stone, and brass. I say fortunately, because when the landing gear  from one the jets the shariah jihadi's hijacked fell through the roof of St. Peter's, the second roof held. When I asked the priest after mass why I never heard of St. Peter's, he said, "We keep a low profile. We let Trinity around the corner take all the glory for that day."Interesting comment when you consider: "The body of Father Mychal Judge, the Franciscan fire chaplain killed by falling debris in the lobby of the North Tower, was carried into St. Peter's Church and reverently placed before the altar.  Source
When I asked him about the sharia conquest center that the Wahhabi's and Muslim brotherhood wanted to build around the corner, he said, "Don't worry. I know from people way up that it won't happen. Our leader here thinks the Muslims are suffering persecution like the Catholics did, but he's nuts."
That made me smile a mile wide and made my heart an ocean of joy. With so many shariah believers, infiltrators, and aggressors now so high up in the White House, intelligence services, and other place in government, it is great that there are still patriots defending the Constitution and the American Way of Life, quietly and professionally, every day. Think this is far fetched? See the facts here.
While so much media attention has been focused on the sharia mosque conquest building, these wonders of technology and the human spirit have been going up daily. My thanks to the thousands of workers and managers and visionaries who are making this eighth wonder of the world possible and practical for everyone.

Honoring Vauk and Ruth

It was a privilege to write the 2010 9/11 speech given by Mount Airy, MD, Mayor Pat Rockinberg to honor Navy Commander Ronald J. Vauk and Army Chief Warrant William Ruth, who gave their lives with thousands of other Americans that day to remember them. 

The ceremony took place in the Mount Airy American Legion parking lot.

"Thank you all for coming this morning. We are gathered here today in the wonderful Town of Mount Airy in the best country on earth……the United States of America…To honor and memorialize two sons of Mount Airy who perished at the Pentagon on 9/11 while defending us and serving our country.
Navy Commander Ronald J. Vaulk was only 37 years young when he lost his life while on an assignment he had begun just the day before… and . . .Army Chief Warrant William Ruth, 57 years old lost his life after surviving two wars, Vietnam and the First Gulf War, and teaching young people as a social studies teacher for nearly 30 years.

I can think of no better way to pay tribute to these great men, their legacy, their ultimate sacrifice, and that of other military veterans who have given their all throughout our history than to honor them with this Patriot’s Day Ceremony.

Their service and sacrifice to our country sets an awesome example to the youth gathered here today. They touched and changed many lives, many of which they never met. The future of our great nation is in the hands of all of you. You have an awesome responsibility and tradition to uphold a great legacy of freedom, liberty and sacrificial love. But looking at you today, I’m confident we are in good hands.

Thank you to the many community organizations and youth groups gathered here today.

On behalf of the Town, I thank you for your community service and congratulate you on the certificates you will be receiving.

May you always demonstrate the love of country, family, and God shown by those who came before, and may God Bless Commander Ronald J. Vaulk and Chief Warrant William Ruth.

We especially want to express our deep gratitude to their families. God Bless everyone gathered here today and God Bless America.

Thank You."

It is hard to hear in the video due to traffic, so I provide the text of the speech above because I think it is a wonderful tribute to two of thousands who gave all that day. I especially honor and prayer for their families who survive their passing. My family suffered the loss of our MIA Frank Curley for many decades through the generations, so I have some idea of how hard such a loss can be.

I am proud of Eamon who, despite of having strep throat (we found later that day when we took him to the doc), played Amazing Grace on his violin to honor Vauk and Ruth, and those Civil Air Patrol and Scout's honored at this, the new Patriot's Day ceremony.

Poetslife Named Top Social Marketing Blog

Serendipity still creates fun on the web.
 For example, to keep up with the world of technical communication, I maintain a list of links for Websites, blogs, and other digital information I have gathered over the years.

Recently, while reviewing links from five years ago, I ran across this one: http://www.icerocket.com/

Icerocket used to have very funny videos and news segments five years ago. Now, it seems to be mostly a search engine, so I entered the search word "poetslife" in the icerocket's search engine, and I ran across this gem:

Top 142 Social Marketing Blogs on the Web

138 days ago by re:think your strategy

http://www.dailyblogtips.com/ Poetslife A Z-List Blog:

hmmm...I clicked the link and discovered a blog called re:think your strategy, snack size pears of marketing wisdom with a list of the Top 142 Social Marketing Blogs on the Web created on April 11, 2010. What I found especially funny about the listing is that I have tried to keep my blog noncommercial...for years.

And guess what was listed as 139? Me.

Poetslife A Z-List Blog (now just poetslife http://poetslife.blogspot.com/

Olivia, who writes the blog, describes the Top 145 Social Marketing Blogs thus:

Below is the most complete list I’ve ever seen of the top social marketing blogs.We created it because it is a list that is much needed by marketers who want to get great news, opinions, and insights by credible, popular bloggers and experts in social marketing.

If you could put a dollar value on the information shared across all these sites it would impossible for most people to afford. Luckily, you can access all these sites and keep up on social marketing trends and news for free.The sites are not ranked in any particular order, nor did I come up with a complicated algorithm to sort and sift them into any order of importance.

They all have something to share and they are all popular sites with their own following, large and small.Enjoy this big resource!Social Marketing Blogs Looking for a social marketing blog? The following is a list of 142 of the top social marketing blogs on the web right now.

Consider this a digital library of social media, marketing how-to, social news sites, and communities.

Thanks for including me in the Top 145 Social Marketing Blogs on the Web, Olivia. Scoble may not still get a rush from being included in such a list, but I do!

Eric Finzi Art

Do yourself a favor. Trust me. Go see Eric Finzi's art on his webpage. Below are some photo's I took of a recent showing of his work. He's great.

Disclosure: He's a good friend. Regardless. He's also a great artist. He has what we Irish call "The Magics" which is a God-given talent to explore God's creative gifts.
Here is a link. Enjoy.

New York Poetry Reading

The Irish American and Italian American poetry journal Feile-Festa, Frank Polizzi, Editor, held its 5th Annual Literary Arts Journal at the KGB Bar in the Village in New York City on May 15, 2010. 

As he had accepted my poem "Screaming Like a Banshee" for the journal, he invited me to read it there. Who could pass up a chance to read poetry in the Village?

Fortunately, my brother Hank was good enough to drive in and out of the city. As he used to be a cab driver while at Temple University, he was the perfect guy to get me there...and back. He is the handsome gent in blue in these photos, and the one who squeezed my Honda Fit into the space in front of KGB you see below.

Frank's email about the reading had an interesting observation about literary journals, like his, that publish literary works in contrast to the academic/government literary complex that spends so much tax payer money but produces so little of lasting value.

"I have been recently working on the layout with my art editor and assoc. editor, and I am still amazed and thrilled by the quality of FF, considering we’re a small journal with no financial backing from the government, academic institutions or cultural philanthropists. However, we do need as much support that we can get from our contributors, readers and fellow travelers to keep this unique journal going, especially the print version. The following is the launch address info:
K G B Bar Inc kgbbar.com
85 East 4th Street
New York, NY 10003-8904
(212) 505-3360
The full story of Frank Curley's life and final mission can be found at the link here.

Pulbished here: 

Screaming Like a Banshee

My wife screams like a banshee

to cover wailing with neutral sound
when my toddler Eamon fights her

and refuses to take a nap.

I hear Grandmom Curley screamed

like a banshee when the telegram arrived

from the War Department in 1945

to tell her the oldest, Frank, the one

who was supposed to be the Jesuit,

instead had been killed in action

when the Japanese ack-ack

turned his B-24 into a fireball

on his 39th mission over Haha Jima

in an ocean grave in the South Pacific.

Grandmom Curley screamed

like a banshee for weeks

until they hooked her up

and shot electricity through her brain

to cover wailing with neutral sound.

She never screamed like a banshee again.

Instead, she wailed so deep down for 20 years

because the hole in her heart was so vast,

laughter was no longer a planet in her galaxy

and the only way people would describe her was,

“She was never the same after Frank died in the Pacific.”

  

Frank was also good enough to publish "Girl at the Deli" in the Spring, 2009 issues of Feile-Festa.

Girl at the Deli

You walk into this friggin’ deli where you’ve

never been before all summer hot and friggin’ angry

and there, behind the counter, she stands,

lips big enough for a zip code,

hair as fine as spun satin and silk

and skin that breaks your heart in two.

You look right at her and stammer, “c..c..coffee”

and she says back, “two or three sugars?”

and you stumble again “uh...two...uh...three”

and cotton wads grow in your mouth,

you smile wanly and she smiles back

so unspoiled and athletic and young

and that chemical reaction starts

in your brain and WHAM,

once again life has possibilities.

She brings you a cup of coffee

and you sip it and want to spit it out

because it tastes like its been there since World War II

but you smile instead because you notice

how fine and bright and clean her eyes speak to you now

and although you want to say “Dear God,

How can you sell this turpentine as coffee?!”

You smile again and gulp it down quickly

and say, “Just what I needed! Hits the spot real well!”

And she smiles and says, “Best for miles around!

How long have you been in these parts?!”

And now you know the chemical explosions

are going off in her brain too,

so you drink some more coffee

that is so toxic and strong and fierce

that your taste buds have all mutinied

but even it cannot kill the wonderful chemicals

that now grant you the absolution, benediction,

and grace of love and suddenly you know

Robert Graves knew what he was talking about,

for here, between the provolone cheese and the Zinfandel wine,

is clear and living proof of the unbroken chain

between the ancient Celts and the current White Goddess.