The Book of Common Prayer on marriage....

As I said in the last post, one of the great cultural benefits of being raised Episcopalian is familiarity with the Book of Common Prayer. MFH gave me a modernized edition of the original 1559 edition of it. I took it in to show it to the Book Club and this is what we found are the words to be spoken by a man to his bride in the 'The Form of Solemnization of Matrimony' aka the Wedding Vows:

With this ring I thee wed: with my body I thee worship: and with all my worldly goods I thee endow. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

Needless to say the ladies of the Club were totally charmed; the men somewhat nervous. I am not sure wether it was the 'with my body I thee worship' or the 'with all my worldly goods I thee endow' that appealed the most to the ladies.

Those old Elizabethans may have been more progressive than we thought.

Another note on the Episcopalians:
For something perhaps more edifying to a members of the Episcopal Church than my last post, Alexander McCall Smith, author of the best-selling No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, is quoted in The Week magazine as picking the prayer book used by the Episcopal Church in America as one of his best books:

'The Book of Common Prayer has within its covers some of the finest writing in English of any time. The echoing resonances of some of the passagesshow us what the English language can be.'

I agree, though I am biased, having grown up hearing it read out to me nearly every Sunday. It is a wonderful way for a child to be introduced to English. More in my next note.

A Church Built By Slaves....
Last Sunday I went over to St Paul's Episcopal Church to hear a talk by Dick Underwood on the history of the church. It was built in 1848 when the hamlet of Wilkesboro consisted of one dirt road and a few, very few, houses. It was built with the help of slave labor. Much of the free white congregation consisted of the larger land owners in the county. As Mr Underwood put it, of the tiny minority of 51 people in Wilkes who did not vote against secession in 1861, most of them probably went to Saint Paul's. There is a living link with this period here in Wilkesboro. One of the ladies in the audience mentioned that she has a black friend who has told her that her grandmother used to tell her stories of how she went to St Paul's when the slaves attended church with their masters, and therefore were Episcopalian, but had to sit in the back in the slave gallery. Blacks continued to be part of the Episcopal congregation for some time, but at some point broke with the church and went elsewhere.

The United States of Appalachia!
Went to the book signing by Jeff Biggers for his book about all the contributions Appalachian people have made to the national culture. It was a lot of fun. He is an engaging speaker. The book, by the way, is available on Amazon. It was just one of many events of local interest the Appalachian Cultural Museum has held over the years. It will be gone by April. Appstate has decided that it desperately needs the building for classroom space. Probably true, but it will destroy the museum to put it in storage. Most of the really interesting exhibits (the Shepherds country store, the still, Junior's race car) are actually on loan. That means the original owners still own them and they will have to be returned. No matter how justified, it is a sad day when an institution of higher learning walks away from the community it serves.

But that is just my opinion. I could be wrong.

Mexican Restaurants in Wilkes:

Today I had lunch at La Fortuna Numero Ocho, a real Mexican restaurant. I was the only Anglo in the place. That's always a good sign. Had the beef tacos which were great, and almost more food than I could eat for $6.00. They offer the tacos American style (with cheese and lettuce) or Mexican style (with lime, radishes, and cucumbers). You also could have corn or flour tortillas. It was all served with three bowls of salsas: red, green and fiery orange. I kept dipping into them and dropping them on my tacos like a kid finger painting. They were wonderful. Very authentic too. The place even looks authentic if you have ever been to Mexico. If you want a dose of Mexican atmosphere, this is the place to go. Keep in mind though that when I say Mexican and mean real working class Mexico.

I have to admit though, that for myself and my favorite Hispanic nothing can hold a candle to the old El Milenio Dos Mil run by the Guerrero family. I had friends who would drive all the way down from Boone just to have a meal there. One well traveled friend told me it was the best Mexican restaurant he'd ever eaten at. Everything was home-style, everything was good, and nothing was the same as the usual Americanized Mexican restaurant. The atmosphere was non-existent, the location was terrible, but the food and the Guerreros were wonderful. Some evenings when there were not many people there we would play with little 3 year old Bryan Guerrero. His little sister Kelly was too young to play with. Bryan taught me Spanish words like 'pelota'.

Alas, the place went out of business for personal reasons. We were both depressed for weeks. Does anyone else out there remember it? Before it was El Milenio it was La Paloma. When the Guerreros took it over they kept the decor and the menu, but somehow improved every single dish.

For Reasons Known only unto God....
Or the top administrators at Appalachian State University in nearby Boone, Appstate is going to close down the Appalachian Cultural Center. If you haven't already visited, you should ... and soon. The original plan, sprung rather unexpectedly on the curator, Dr Chuck Watkins, was simply to boot the Center out of its present building on Blowing Rock Road and store the collection in the Old Belk Library. It was pointed out that this would essentially destroy the museum. When the local community found out about it, they jumped to the conclusion, shared by some malcontent members of the faculty, that the University is running away from its connection with local Appalachian culture. After the ensuing uproar the administration now says that of course they never intended to close the museum, just stash it somewhere until they can find the perfect spot for it.

Of course, this is the same University that brought us this, so perhaps it is not so bad after all.

An Event Worth Going to...
Next Wednesday, 22 February, 7:00pm* At the Appalachian State University's soon to be defunct Appalachian Cultural Museum in Boone. Call 828-262-3117 for directions, etc.

*Reading** and Book Signing with Jeff Biggers.*

In his book, The United States of Appalachia: How Southern Mountaineers Brought Independence, Culture, and Enlightenment to America, Biggers shows that Appalachia has been “a cradle of U.S. freedom and independence, and a hot bed for literature and music.” According to Biggers, “some of the most quintessential and daring American innovations, rebellions, and social movements have emerged” from the Appalachian region. Jeff Biggers’ work has won awards such as the American Book Award, and he has also been a commentator with National Public Radio’s Morning Edition. This event is free.

Gas experiment II.
Just finished a tank of gas driving as usual - or as near as I've felt comfortable doing with all the police out on 421 lately. They seem to have been transferred somewhere else the last few days. So you can all go back to driving 15-20 mph over the speedlimit.

Anyway, I got 27.9 miles per gallon. At this rate it seems that I am only getting about .24 miles extra by sticking to the speed limits. That would be about 3.6 miles per tank, which is nothing. Not sure that is worth worrying about. I will have to find some other way to fight global warming.

Back to the drawing board.

Let's be careful out there....

One of the reasons it was so easy to carry out my experiment of driving scrupulously at the speed limit is that Highway 421 has seen an increase in police activity. The other day I passed four state trooper cars giving out tickets within 35 miles. Almost every day on my commute since I have passed at least one, and usually two, police or state troopers writing tickets. I think they are trying to make a statement so take it easy out on the roads of Wilkes. At least for the time being.

More bashing of Hispanics...

Mr James E Wyatt has written in to the Journal-Patriot to complain about several things (some of which I agree with) but can't resist saying

The only thing the Hispanics are helping in this country themselves, to free government benefits so they can live like kings. Also, they are helping Mr. Bush to destroy middle class Americans.

I am a little curious about this. Most of the Hispanics are illegal, which means they can help themselves to no government freebies of any sort. If they are employed by a legitimate business like Tysons (of course Tysons does not knowingly hire illegals) then they must be using a false social security number: so they pay the Social Security tax, but get no benefits. As for living like kings, I haven't seen much of that. And as for destroying the middle class, how many middle class Wilkes county people are trying for the same jobs Hispanics get? It is the ability to keep wages low for working class people that may be in question here, but that generally keeps middle class people employed. At Tysons, for example, which does hire many Hispanics (though only ones with proper documentation), it is the Anglo population that seems to get the management and supervisory jobs. And, of course, the middle class people running the filling stations, grocery stores, car dealerships, Wal-Mart, etc that skim off their fair share of the Hispanics pay.

Without the cheap labor, where do you think Tysons would be? Or any other number of little businesses catering to Hispanics? Their money circulates as well as anyone's and they pay taxes as well. I haven't noticed anyone in local government proposing to shut any of them down. But, I could be wrong.

A Little Experiment on Travel:

I seem to be missing some of my recent posts here. Oh well. The world can probably live without them. There has been a lot happening in the local papers lately - Journal-Patriot readers seem to be going wild with letters to the editors. They are actually asking some important questions and making interesting comments. I'll have more on that later.

For the moment I just want to mention an experiment I am conducting. Like a lot of people in Wilkes, I have a long commute to get to where I work. There are not enough jobs here in the county. Anyway, this last week I was careful to drive at the exact speed limit, which the way I go is never more than 55 mph. I did this through a whole tank of gas and came up with 28.14 mph. The next tank I will drive the way I normally do: "like a madman," according to my next door neighbor! We'll see if there is any difference and if the difference amounts to anything.

If the savings is significant, I suppose we should all get behind President Bush and try to lower our dependence on Middle Eastern oil ( an administration spokesperson is now on record as saying he didn't really mean 'Middle Eastern' oil, that was just a way of speaking so ordinary citizens like you and I would understand him).