This has been a week of gathering together, and that will continue through the weekend. The week started out in Charleston, South Carolina, where a group of like-minded individuals gathered to talk about what for some would be just work stuff. This conference gathered people together to learn about new and better ways to help our students persist and be more successful on their college pathways. No matter the reason, the gathering of bright, committed, and passionate people who care about students is always recharging for me.
I also just appreciated the time away. I haven't had any time off since December beyond the usual holidays, and that has kept me close to home. Charleston is a beautiful city, and it shows its 300+ years of history as you walk the streets. It has taken even more of a gloss as one of the South's gems. Great things to see, wonderful shopping, terrific places to eat, and really, it is like a history text. Fort Sumter, the harbor, and almost every street has at least a few historical markers. Of course if you have traveled with me anywhere in the world, you know that I read everyone of them.
That history also was troubling to me. Underneath this beauty is an ugly past. Walking past a slave market is not something that you can forget, nor should you. Knowing that until a year ago the Confederate flag was part of the State flag is yet another reminder of an ugly past. And knowing that until a white supremacist murdered nine Black citizens of the city in a church that this symbol of the segregationist, racist South was removed did take some of the shine off of the city. Truly it was a contradictory city, both beautiful and terrible.
This was a week of gathering together at work as well. It appears that I was able to hire the first two employees of the grant that I direct, so that is progress. Other meetings also showed that for ever one or two steps we take forward we sometimes take three or four steps backward but that is par for the course. I think I will celebrate the steps forward.
Today was the culmination of gathering together in a way that the Dutch theologian and ditty writer Adrianus Valerius probably did not have in his mind when he wrote the popular hymn in 1597. After a successful hunt for a fish and chips joint, The Anchor, in the Northeast Neighborhood in Minneapolis, we found an Slovakian/Ecuadorian Catholic church that was just preparing to bless the food baskets of the parish. Valerius wrote the hymn to celebrate a military victory that kept others out of Northern Europe, but this church has found a way to celebrate and welcome all those who have come to the neighborhood. What a moving ceremony, one filled with children and families of many different cultures and countries. And who wouldn't like a church service where they bless the wine? That is a positive step in my book.
Tomorrow the world celebrates Christianity's holiest day. Tuesday Passover ends with another gathering and celebration, and the Muslim holiday of Ramadan follows in May. In this world where you actually can have a Slovakian=Ecuadorian church with all that this means, I hope that we can gather (peacefully) together to continue to learn and celebrate in the days and months ahead.
