My kids are already at specials for the next 20 minutes. They're in PE. So a lot this morning, a lot. So last night around like 7.30, I started getting some really bad cramps in my abdomen area, if you can figure that out. And so I took a bath with some like peppermint and rosemary, soaking salt. And then after that, I tried to go to bed, put a heating pad on myself. Nothing worked. I took some pain medication, nothing. I literally slept one hour last night. One hour, if that. I'm not even quite sure how long. But I'm in a lot of pain now still. I don't think that it's related to Shark Week. I think it's something else.  I can hardly stand up. I feel hot and sweaty. I feel weak. I feel like I need to throw up. So it's been rough. But I think Mind Over Matter kicked in as soon as I saw my kids because I felt better up until I left them at specials. So that just tells you Mind Over Matter. I'm just too excited to meet them. And I have 21 kids as of today. One is absent, but I had her sister last year. So the parents already know my drill. But I love them already. They're super sweet. They're so quiet. They are so excited to be here. So that makes me excited.  Mandy, how's it going in there for you? I'm sweaty. Yeah. Mandy, how are you feeling? Good. Good? Yeah. All right. So I haven't even touched my coffee because I'm afraid of what might come from it. But we're gonna make it through today. So I wanted to show you guys something super important this morning. I've had a lot of questions about these math numbers. Those were found on TPT. I think it's called the Great Math Challenge or Multiplication Challenge. They are just on TPT. I just printed them out on my Cricut. I think I might even have just printed them out and cut them myself. So another thing that I've been getting questions about is my book bins and my cubbies. So I do flexible seating. Right now the kids are assigned a seat just so that we can get used to each other and get acclimated. But when the kids are not sitting in assigned seats, they're still sitting in table groups and not desks. These desks have been turned around so that they cannot access the inside of them. So basically I'm gonna show you guys what is in a cubby and what is in a book bin. All right. So this is cubby number one. The kids have not come over here yet. The book bin is missing a couple items but I will show you those items outside of the cubby. So basically back in the back, once you pull the book bin out, you will find the manipulatives bags that the kids sorted in my classroom setup blogs. So these have pretty much all of the manipulatives that the kids will need throughout the year minus like a clock and some other little things. But this goes in the very back of their cubby and stays back there. Then in their book bin, they're gonna have a few items. They're going to have a, and in this binder is an agenda. I'm trying not to show the front but the agenda will come out. The agenda will come out. They also have some dividers which will be, there will be an avid tab. There will be a reading tab, math, writing and language, and songs. Now the reason why I don't have a science social studies tab is because I have an entire notebook dedicated to that and we don't do it as often so I don't want to dedicate a whole tab when I want songs and avid to be in there. So they will have that in their binder. They will also store all of their handouts for each subject in this binder. So the agenda won't be in there. This will come out and will be attached to their homework folder with a binder ring so that they can take them home together. So that's why it will be in the binder. They're also gonna have their tech cards shoved in the back and they're gonna be making collages to put in the front to represent them. They're also going to have their math book, Susan here, they're going to have a whiteboard and a pencil pouch that only has a highlighter, a pencil and a colored utensil.  This is not a place for them to store crayons. It's not a place for them to store scissors or markers or anything like that. It's only what I allow them to have. So in addition to these items, they will have, everything's over here because I'm getting ready to pass it out. They will have a red folder. This is their ketchup folder and I did print labels out that I got on TPT and I'll show them to you in a minute. This will be their classwork folder. So it's a ketchup here and it will say may do and must do. Everything that I give them that they need to complete will go in this folder. I just feel that it's a lot easier for them to track one folder rather than two. And then I'm not sure which one yet, blue or green but one of these will be their take home folders. And then I was thinking about maybe doing but they don't have the binder tabs in here, the binder little brackets. I was gonna have them put all their songs in a folder and keep it separate from their binder but they don't have the brackets so I'm not gonna do that. All right, then they will have a red notebook. This will be their writing notebook. They will have a blue notebook. This will be their reading notebook and then they will have two composition books. One is for math, one is for science social studies. So social studies would be on one side. Then if you flip the book, science will be on the other so that they can fill just one book for both subjects. Like I said, we don't do it that often. I usually embed it into my reading curriculum so I don't feel like I need a whole notebook assigned to them for that. They're also gonna have their little readers. They're gonna have a bookmark. They're gonna have a Manila pocket. This is to hold all of their grabbers in their book bin. Then I will obviously give them highlighters, pencils, whiteboard markers and erasers. That will all be in their book bin. Their library books will also go in their book bin if it fits, if it doesn't fit, it will just go in their cubby where they can get to it. But the idea behind the cubby is because we're an avid school, we focus on organization. We want the kids to only have the items that they need and not extra. So I know a lot of people don't like doing community supplies and that's totally fine. It's completely up to you. But I do community supplies simply for the avid purpose. We want them to stay organized. We want them to learn how to clean up after themselves, to organize themselves. So each table group has a caddy. And in this caddy they will have a box of crayons and they will empty their box of crayons into these little containers, which I got from Walmart last year. They will have a pair of scissors for each teammate. And then they will also have a pack of markers, a pack of colored pencils in the box. So they will have everything that they'll need if they're gonna do a project that requires supplies like that. I'll just send the team leader over to grab the bin and then they have it ready to go. And then the person who's like the table leader for the day, they'll be in charge of keeping the caddy clean. I will check the caddies every day and give their team a grabber or a dojo point if their caddy is clean before they leave. So that is everything that goes in a book bin slash cubby in my classroom. So I have about nine minutes. I'm going to sit on my tush and I'm going to relax because the kids are coming back inside and we're gonna continue with our procedures PowerPoint. Now I always do a first day PowerPoint and it has all my procedures there, but it also has my community builders as a slide and all my activities as a slide. So I literally all have to, so all I have to do on the first day of school is go through this slideshow. All the activities are listed in there as a slide. If for some reason I run out of activities to do, I do have some backups like the cuties that we got from Target, the little two truths and a fib, the little classroom scavenger hunt or classroom I spy, I have those as well. And then the bubbles for the self-control activity. We are just drippin' with extra things that we can do. If we run out of time, we have a lot to do in day one. We've got read-alouds coming, we've got community builders coming, so it is packed full. So anyway, I'm gonna go and I'll see you guys a little bit later. Hi everyone, welcome back to Apple's NTRS. I know that it's been a little bit since I posted a video. In fact, the last one I posted was over two weeks ago and that was my tour of my friend's classrooms. Maybe before this vlog, you're seeing my little short first day of school vlog, but if you follow me on Instagram, then you guys know. I've been a little bit under the weather the last about two weeks. So I'm just sitting here in my classroom guys and I'm planning because I'm a little bit behind due to the fact that I was gone for two days on the first week of school. I can't even believe that that's even something that happened because that's not something that I would normally do. So if you follow me on Instagram, you already know that I was down from about Monday night, the first week of school, to probably about Sunday night, this last week. This last week. So August 5th, up until August 12th, I was doubled over in abdominal and back pain. I went to the ER twice. They did blood work, they did CT scans, they did ultrasounds, they did all kinds of stuff and ER doctors are not like the bee's knees. Like they're not going to find out what's wrong with you but they're gonna just treat you and let you go home. So I did get some pain medication and some other things to help. I still don't know what's going on with me so I have a doctor's appointment next week for a GI doctor which is gastrointestinal doctor to see what's going on. I still feel probably like 10%, not myself. I'm about 90% better. I still wake up with like stomach cramps and like little things but I'm able to eat now. I'm sticking to a very bland diet. They think that it might be an ulcer which is bizarre to me because I've drank coffee and eaten spicy foods and other things like my whole life but I do account it to maybe taking a pain medication without enough food in my stomach for cramping so that could have been it. I don't really know yet. We'll find out when I go to the doctor next week but I'm feeling like 90% better so I'm a little bit more myself now. However now I feel a little bit behind so this morning I am just pounding out some lesson plans for next week. I wanna make sure that I am planned and prepped for next week before I leave this building today. It is Friday afternoon, August 16th. Today is my best friend's birthday and also my teammate's birthday so we got her a little card with an Amazon gift card in here. We're gonna deliver that. But I'm going to stay at school today until I have everything planned, copied and ready to go for next week. That way on Monday morning I can walk in and start planning for the week after that. Because I did miss two days of the first week of school I'm still working on routines, procedures. We're talking about growth mindset. We're talking about zones of regulation. We're talking about self-regulation and just some simple third grade standards that we've started with. We're doing place value right now so next week I will begin talking about rounding and we're also talking about describing characters. This week we focused on character traits, both personality and physical traits. Next week we will talk about feelings, motivations, things like that. So what I've been using to teach reading this first week and next week is rooted in reading. These are on TPT. They were created by Hope King and Amy Lemons and they're great for the beginning of the school year when you're trying to establish routines, trying to have a little bit less prep and less thought. I wouldn't say less thought because I'm really still thinking about what I'm teaching but everything is pretty much done for you here. You have your comprehension piece, you have vocab, you have grammar, you have writing and informational text. So next week I will be teaching the book Crowboy and I have the book here but I also have linked the book on my student's Google classroom page, so the YouTube video of the read aloud. That way they have access to the book as well. So I'm just typing up my lesson plans here. Nothing in my classroom has really changed other than the fact that there have been kids here and so normal classroom things going on. I would love to be able to do a room tour for you guys next week so that video will be up after this one. That'll be up after this video. So another thing that has come about because of my ulcer, I think is what it is, I haven't had coffee in like two weeks. So because of that, I've decided that I'm going to try to not drink coffee anymore, caffeinated coffee anyway, just because it's an expensive habit and why not try to not drink it if I don't need it. So I got some B12 and this is the natural brand. You guys know I love the 5HTP from this brand and I will be taking that as well. Once I know my stomach is better, I don't wanna take anything right now but I'm gonna be taking these B12 energy supple supplements and they're 5,000, I don't even know, I'm not really sure what MC, jeez, that's sad, but I'm gonna see if these give me the energy that coffee does and then I'll report back and let you guys know they're fast dissolving so that's great. All right, so I am going to sit here and do my plans for next week so that I can get that done and then I'll try to pick you guys up in a little bit. I wanna play a joke on my students. Mandy and I were laughing this morning. Do you guys remember the videos where you say what is YES spell? And they say yes. Then you say what is EYES spell? I wanna see if I can get them with that joke and then there's another one that says there are 30 cows in a field, 28 chickens, how many didn't. I'm gonna hit them with those two today. I think it'd be really funny. Okay, I'm gonna get started planning and I'll see you guys in a second. What does YES spell? Yes, yes. What does EYES spell? Nice job. Okay, I have another one. There are 30 cows in a field, 28 chickens, how many didn't. What? Let me say it again. Yeah. There are 38 cows in a field, or sorry, 30 cows in a field, 28 chickens, how many didn't. I don't get this question. I don't get it. I don't get it. 38? No. 38? 48. There's a, how many didn't. 30 cows in a field, 28 chickens, how many didn't. How many didn't? You're blocking already. Mm-hmm. How many didn't? 18? How many didn't? Mm-hmm. How many didn't? You didn't, what? 30 cows in a field, 28 chickens, how many didn't. You didn't, what? You didn't, what? Troopers, assemble. Guys, so it is the end of the day and I am exhausted. A lot of things today.   So it was just a busy day. The kids were awesome today for the most part, very chatty, so we're gonna be working on following directions and following expectations with noise levels. So that's gonna be our goal for next week. I am here until about 5.15 today. My husband and I are meeting up with his biological father. Yes, they've met before, many times. We're meeting up with him for dinner. He's in town, so we're gonna go meet up with him, but we're meeting somewhere kind of close to where I work. So I told him, I was like, why don't you and Cash just meet me there, I'll stay at work and get some things done, because I do have quite a few projects that I need to work on that I'd like to just be done with. That way I don't have to add it onto anything like planning and things like that. So I'll show you guys what I'm talking about. So I have this little stack of curriculum that is bigger files that I need to sort into my binders and into those tubs. So I think that's what I'm gonna work on right now. But before I do that, I'm gonna make sure that all of my plans and things that I need prepped are ready for next week. That way I can come in on Monday and start planning and prepping for the next week. I got a little bit behind because of being absent. So I'm gonna make sure that I try to do that. Also, I don't have a computer cart yet, which is sort of frustrating. So I think I might take this cart back because it's kind of just here. This cart needs to go back because it's kind of just in the way. It isn't really serving any purpose. So I think I'm gonna ditch it. It was supposed to be for my teaching spot, but I'm not using it as that. So I think I'm gonna go ahead and take it back to the library and just get it out of the way. And then I'm gonna, actually, here's what I'll do. I'm gonna make better use of my time. I'm gonna make sure I have everything sent to the copier for next week. And then that way I can take the library cart on my way to the copy machine. I also need to do some seat rearranging just because I'm starting to learn these kiddos and their needs and things that they need in order to be successful. Seating chart-wise, I also have to make a phone call to a parent. So I'm gonna make a little to-do list real quick. I managed to get quite a few projects done. I got all of that curriculum that was sitting right here in the corner of my desk space put away. I cleaned my desk space, which is also my small group space. All of this is going home with me. I got this little spot cleaned. I also moved around, oh, I moved around some furniture. So I did have a floor table and you haven't seen it because I haven't done a room tour. But if you saw my classroom set up, you did see that. I did have a floor, sorry, I'm putting this binder away. I did have a floor table right here. And the students were complaining about sitting on the floor. They weren't really comfortable. They wanted a chair with a desktop. So I traded my teammate my round table, which belongs to me. And I'll get it back if I ever leave or anything like that. But I traded her the round table for this, these two trapezoid tables. So it's still round, it still seats four, but they can now sit at a chair at the table top. So now I have four desks, four desks, one round, one round, and then a rectangle. So I do still have space for one, two, three students if I get any new ones. And then I also have this whole table and those two black tables up front. So yeah, I have plenty of space for students. I have 21 kids right now. So if I do get another new one, I will put them over here. Another thing I wanted to mention was my kick fix bands. I know I mentioned these in my classroom vlog or my classroom haul video. So it's really hard to put them on the chairs because we have these chairs with these legs. So what I did is I put two on this desk, one on each side and then my kiddo, he just bounces on each, like with one leg each. So it's kind of even cooler because he has one for each foot. And so I'm looking around campus for a chair that's not like this, but I don't think we have any. So for now it's just like that. I love the fact that I had extra time to clean up because I'm leaving my space really clean, this space really clean, which I'm loving. And yeah, so the only thing I have left out is my math centers, which these ones are already made from last year and I just bagged them up and I'm gonna use them again next week. And then I think I'm gonna keep these up here underneath my community builders one. So I have this pink one here. This is all community building activities. So this one is all community building activities like pre-made stuff. So from like question cards to like team Tetris to get to know you stuff. So I'll keep my math centers here too because I'll be using them throughout the year. And I just wanna keep them like somewhere close by to where I plan so that I just have them have like quick access to them. So another thing I need to do is cut all of these out. These are all of teaching and so forth's third grade math posters. Mandy and I laminated and made them super small and we're gonna be putting them on little Ikea frames. I've seen some people do this on Instagram. So I'm gonna do that. But I think, let's see, I probably have like 15 more minutes. So I'm gonna take all my stuff out to my car because I have quite the load today. I'm taking my Cricut home and all the stuff that comes with my Cricut. So I'm actually commandeering this cart. And I'm gonna take all my stuff outside first and then I'll bring it back in here and I'll take it to the library next week. But other than that, that's gonna be it for this vlog. I'm hoping that next week I will be able to pick up my camera and intentionally vlog maybe every day, maybe not every day, just whenever I can to get a nice classroom vlog out for all of you. I'm gonna purposely leave this purse in here so that I don't forget to come back with the cart, which why would I do that? I don't know why. But there's so many things that I wanted to tell you guys about in the first week and now everything is like put away and just like back to school ideas. So I really apologize you guys. Maybe next year I'll be better. If not, there are so many wonderful people that you can go and watch. My friend Jessica at hello, third grade. My friend Vanessa at my second grade life. Shelly is rocking it over in sixth grade. Darren is hanging out and getting ready for school on a tick by Darren. Jennifer from genuine teaching. She's probably got all kinds of things out for back to school. So again, I'm sorry that I don't have anything better for you guys as far as back to school just cause things were so broken up and rushed because of my sickness and I'm really glad I'm on the mend now. So I will see you guys in the next video. I hope you have a wonderful, wonderful rest of your week and I'll see you in the next one. Bye guys.


This is Coach Mack. Welcome to Beneath the Surface powered by Microsoft Surface. Today we're going to look at four plays in the Titans Cleveland Browns game. We're going to look at two really good combat catches, one by AJ Brown and one by Corey Davis, and then we're going to look at two plays by Michael Pruitt. Two touchdowns, one in a conventional way, one in a fairly unconventional way. First play we're here. This is early in the second quarter. This is play action. You see the switch release outside the deep, deep post. Watch the switch released by the two players in the slot. Excellent play action pocket. Look at the pocket. Time for Ryan Tannehill to set up and throw a combat catch right down the middle to AJ Brown. Contested catch, big receivers going up, very high, high point to ball, a physical, physical catch by a very physical receiver, AJ Brown. Next we're looking at first and 10 here, play action out of eye formation. Ryan Tannehill now sets up in the pocket, the immediate throw is not there, starts to move, very effective on the run, and then Corey Davis does a tremendous job of staying in phase with his quarterback and uncovering. Once his quarterback starts to escape the pocket, Corey Davis stays alive, uncovers, watch him go up high, make a combat catch, absorbs a big hit, stays on his feet, touchdown. That came in an 11 catch, 182 yard day for Corey Davis. Next we're going to look at, watch Cleveland walk the Sam linebacker up on the tight end in a butch alignment. We get motion now out of the backfield to create a quads look, watch the tackle block out on the linebacker that was covering Pruitt, and then Pruitt does a beautiful switch release up underneath, touchdown Michael Pruitt, who is making an appearance after his three week absence due to injury. Next play we're going to look at, second down, second and 10, Michael Pruitt will now be involved in this play also, but he's not the primary receiver. Now immediate throw, AJ Brown in, the ball is now stripped from AJ Brown, but Michael Pruitt, great effort, great awareness, follows the play all the way to the end, very athletic move, scoop and score, touchdown on the fumble recovery, a two touchdown day for Michael Pruitt in his return to action for the Tennessee Titans.


For the safety of your smile, use pepsidon twice a day. See your dentist twice a year. Lever Brothers Company presents the pepsidon program. The adventures of Philip Marlowe starring Van Heflin. Pepsidon presents Philip Marlowe. Raymond Chandler's famous private detective. You've seen him on the screen, lady in the lake, murder my sweet, the brasher doubloon and the big sleep. Now pepsidon brings you the adventures of Philip Marlowe on the air and starring MGM's brilliant and dynamic young actor Van Heflin. Now families all over America have named their favorite toothpaste. New pepsidon witharium. New fresh tasting pepsidon with the new cool minty flavor. It's the three-to-one favorite over all other toothpaste. Yes, in a recent test, families from coast to coast compared new pepsidon with other toothpaste at home. And by an overwhelming vote, by an average of three-to-one, these families preferred new pepsidon over all other toothpaste on all these counts. They said new pepsidon tastes better, makes breath cleaner, makes teeth brighter. Yes, on all these points, families three-to-one declared new pepsidon better than the average of all other toothpaste they tried. Get it for your family right away. There comes a certain time in the year when I don't want to see midget auto races. I just want to see midgets. When I prefer sawdust to stardust and popcorn to all other kinds of corn available in Hollywood, the circus was moving in on the grounds at Washington Boulevard and Hill Street. And I was turning in my usual fine job as sidewalk supervisor. It was exciting. It brought back all the sounds and sensations and convictions of childhood. And then someone had me firmly by the wrist and I turned to look into a pair of steady, smoky dark eyes that could be dangerous. Excuse me, sir, but you are a private detective? I'm a detective, but I don't get much privacy. Yeah, my name is Ralph Tassanari. Who told you I was a detective? My feet aren't that flat. Do you know a gentleman named Al-Sikhanofi? Well, I know an Al-Sikhanofi, yes. He pointed you out. He asked me what was the big idea, what was my angle, hiring a private detective? He gave me an idea. I mean, is Al-Sikhanofi had any ideas to spare? Mr. Malo, besides owning one-third of this very fine little circus, I am Tassanari. I'm Tassanari, the sweet and gloriaan, the trafisto, the most brilliant aerial act in the business. I own this circus with gloriaan and the sweet. Well, where does Al-Sikhanofi fit in here?  This circus is worth a quarter of a million dollars. Already, the sweet has gambled away much more than his third of the circus. And a partner may sell out his other partners without even consulting them. Oh, you're afraid the sweet will sell you out to pay for his debts. Yeah, and if he did that, I should not hesitate to. Uh-oh, watch yourself. Al-Sikhanofi has made a claim that the gamblers expect payment immediately now. Would you consider giving us your protection during these days? It was going to be twenty-five dollars a day and expensive, that's the nut. Cheap enough. Yeah, I know, but you see, I'm a sucker for circuses. Yeah? Is this the office of Philip Marlowe? Better still, this is Philip Marlowe. Ralph, tassanari hija this morning, didn't he? Go ahead. This is a partner, gloriaan. I'm in a downtown bar with a sweet and he's terribly drunk. I know this isn't your job, but won't you come down and help me get him sobered up for the night? Please? All right, mother Marlowe will be right down. I found the main street bar where gloriaan said I'd find her and the sweet. The sweet was potted like grandmothers' bedounia and with the help of the bartender and poor professional loafers we got him into my car, I told gloriaan to drive. Ah, let me along, well, no, I'm all right. Well, just take it easy. Where shall I drive, Mr. Marlowe? Georgia Street receiving hospital, I'll stay back here and rassle the sweet for the championship. I'll just let him alone for an hour to do some shopping. I'm telling you something, honey girl, a tassinari makes any more passes at you. I'll beat him brainless. Oh, please don't pay any attention to him, Mr. Marlowe. He thinks everyone in the circus is in love with me. Okay, now back in your seat, madam. Yeah, yeah, and that flip doctor, too. I'll be still.  One of these days I'm going to get absinthe-minded on that trapeze and I'm not going to catch your friend, tassinari. How's that, huh? Don't listen to him, Mr. Marlowe. Well, then tell Marlowe to let go of my ear. Yeah, yeah, perfect crime. Who'd know if it was an accident or not. And then I'd own half a circus instead of just a third. Please, Mr. Marlowe. Please, Mr. Marlowe. He's drunk. Yeah, but drunk or sober, you've got one doozy of an idea there. Drunk or sober. Hey, hey, hey, my wrist. What's that? I knew some interns at Georgia Street receiving hospital who obliged with some money. I knew some interns at Georgia Street receiving hospital who obliged with some oxygen and a mask. A half hour of breathing that oxygen deeply in a swede with stone, cold, sober and back in my car again. He was making certain cagey explanations. Er, Marlowe, you don't want to take that stuff I was mumbling about seriously, you know. I was drunk. I'm second to worse. After all, Gloria is my wife. Oh? Naturally, I don't like other guys giving her the eye. But that screwy talk about me dropping tassanari accidentally on purpose. Oh, but get it. Oh, yeah, the perfect crime. I was only talking, Marlowe. I wouldn't do that to tassanari. Of course not. You'd be all broken up about it, wouldn't you? I sat in a field box that evening at this small, neat circus unwound for the big act. And the big moment arrived with butterflies warming up in my stomach in a pulse. Thumping madly in my neck. This weed came bounding into the arena. And over to the two spidery ladders that zoomed up into the very peak of the big tent. Up there where it was hot, high and dangerous. Two magnificently made men climbing that slim ladder. They're brilliant capes flowing behind them, going up higher, smaller, higher. And then... They were on their tiny platforms, removing their capes grandiose. They turned, faced each other across the board like divers. Not a voice, not a breath, not a sound. I began to perspire. The net was being gathered back. Then suddenly tassanari raised his right arm and smiled. Dropped his arm and the weed shot out into space like a comet. Suddenly waltzing, somehow insane music began. It was all the announcer said, at least to me, daring and terrifying. Whirl and spin and contact. Swing, swing, swing and spin. Spinning and whirling, contact and break hands locked to rosin hands. Contact and break spin, whirl, cartwheel and contact. Swing, swing, swing and leap. Split second timing and a split second split again. With capes, bars flying into place where and when they were needed. I looked away, my head drumming and swimming. And I looked up again. I looked up and the thing that had been tying my stomach in cold, hard notch. The thing I was afraid of happened. Look out! The music played a gait when the clowns poured into the arena, grinning happily. I saw the youngish handsome doctor race across the serve as followed by Gloria. Across the arena, I saw Al Saganoffi get up and disappear into the crowd. I went out too. Outside, I managed to get a shaking match to a quaking cigarette. In my mind, I heard again and again the drunken voice of the flying sweep come back to me. All of these days, I'm going to get absinthe on that trapeze and I'm not going to catch your friend Tassanari. How's that, huh? Only it was all wrong. It didn't add up. Because the body that had plummeted to the ground hadn't been the body of Ralph Tassanari. But of the man who had plotted the perfect crime, Gloria and his husband, the flying swede. Mother! What? Oh! Oh! You were in there? Yes, I saw it, Gloria. I think I could kill Ralph with this.  What do you think? Look, Gloria, and I took this job, you know why. And all this reminded me of myself when I was a kid reading Tom Sawyer and Hudson and believing him. Well, I still believe in him. I felt the same way about the circus. The last childish allusion. The man holds on to you so he doesn't get too hard. You're not tough at all, are you? I was going to like this job and then he's happy. Do you know what I'm talking about? Yes, I'm sorry we failed. Well, look, Gloria, and the swede is dead and you think Tassanari killed him. But it's the perfect crime. You can't prove anything. Well, maybe I didn't love the swede very much. But it was my husband and on the square. Did you love Tassanari? If I did, it's all over now. I'm going to prove to everybody in circus business at least if he killed my husband. Yeah, well, how? You'll see, little boy. Good night. I watched her go back into the big tent and then I drove home and dreamed all night of Al Saganoffe smiling, his yellow smile and disappearing into the crowd. I got up late and went down for coffee and a newspaper. The story was there on page one. Also, a silky, leggy picture of Gloria and beneath it, the caption reading, show must go on, dares high trapeze of Tassanari after mate falls to death. I looked at my watch. It was late, later than I thought. For the daring young dame on the flying trapeze, it was almost too late. You are listening to the Adventures of Philip Marlowe starring Van Heflin. Yes, families all over America have named their favorite toothpaste, new pepsidon with invigorating earium foam, new fresh-tasting pepsidon with a new, cool, minty flavor. It's the three-to-one favorite over all other toothpaste in recent home tests. 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We continue with Adventures of Philip Marlowe, created by Raymond Chandler and starring Van Heflin, who appears by arrangement with Metro Golden Mare, producers of The Hucksters, starring Clark Gable. The lion act was going on when I arrived at the circus grounds in practice when Miranda Glory Ann's tent. She was in her tights and cloak ready to go on. Look, Glory Ann, you're kidding. This is a gag. You're not going up there.  Well, you're out of your mind.  You had that.  Captain, I agree to go up with him. Why? Why aren't his marriage shattered after yesterday? Because he knows he didn't make a mistake yesterday. He knows he dropped my husband perfectly. And not because of his timing or reactions for a while. Do I make sense? Up to a point. You're thinking he may drop me for pepsidon. And I wouldn't like that. He won't drop me. What makes you so sure? Because Captain, I love him. He won't. Does that make sense? Yeah. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Well, go to it, little girl. I watched Glory Ann so small and slim and fragile she went up that thin ladder. My throat swelled tight and the butterflies took off in my stomach again. She was on the platform, removing her silk cape, folding it carefully over the rail. They were facing each other, smiling, smiling, dead, sultry silence. Then... For minutes, I sat there, petrified, watching her co-swept channeling down my back. For 10 minutes, I stopped breathing. I died. Once, only once, I had to close my eyes and in that second, I heard the crowd roar. Everyone was standing up, screaming and goggle-eyed. I groped to my feet and there she was. Bowing and laughing and throwing kisses into the crowd and a tassinary in at me. Then she pirouetted and ran up the ramp to her dressing table. I got there with tassinary. Her eyes warmed from the yin and then froze again for tassinary.  And you, tassinary. Tassinary? Ralph Folser's a name I bear. Today I talk to tassinary. Now what, Mr. Muller, do you hear what I have to say to you? It's just first that I'm through with you. Corianne, look, not because of the accident. Yeah, but because it was not an accident. You don't believe that. May I suggest that maybe Al Sikonofi has a meeting part in this picture? No.  Corianne, that's not true. Dr. Stowe seems to think as I do. Ah, yes, Dr. Stowe. I did pass your tent last night after the accident. Accident? I heard you and the catfied unsuccessful doctor speaking together all so intimately. Fair your insult, Tassinary. Speaking together, deciding conveniently, perhaps, that I killed a swede. Richard never accused. Do he only said that? No, he's the one. Richard. Get out. If I wanted to murder a man, it would be easy to take my gun for my trunk and shoot him. Yeah, but that wouldn't be the perfect crime.  Because he might have sold you out to pay his debts. Because you'd get half of his share of the circus. Because you were in love with his wife. I see. You think you have a case, huh? I hope not. Corianne knows what I mean. Only perhaps Tassinary better go now. Yeah. Yeah. I'm very sorry, Corianne, for all of us. Good day. Good day, Mr. Marlowe.   I better lie down now. I left wondering if there'd be a show that night, tradition or no tradition. I walked for a half an hour and then a police squad car came screaming down Washington Boulevard toward the circus grounds. Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the noonday sun but Marlowe runs in it. I found a small colony of cops in one of the dressing tents. The man on the cot had taken a lot of pulses in his time, and he didn't have a single one to show for it, not even his own. Good-looking, youngish Dr. Richard W. Stowe was dead. Detective Lieutenant Ibarra held out a small automatic to me. Hello, Marlowe. I hear you've been masterminding things around here lately. Ever see this gun before? I may have heard of it. A man named Ralph Tassinary connected with his show has disappeared. Know something about that? He was fresh from a lover's quarrel last year, so I'm... Well, maybe just out walking it off. Possibly. But the dead doctor and Tassinary both went for a pretty little trapeze, a queen named Gloria Anne. Was anything stolen here? No. The circus hand of her, the muffler shot came running before anything could have been taken. Well, they gala, Gloria Anne, how does she feel about this? She's in her tent, heavily committed to a case of hysterics. Marlowe, divvies on any information you get out of her. But, Gloria Anne, you can't go on like this. Now let me get something for you. I'll be all right. Just a sedative to settle your nerves. Oh, no, we never take that thing. It's bad for going up on the trap. No. No, I'll see. That's the best thing. Please. You can't go up there tonight. Anyway, Tassinary's missing. I'll go see what I can find for you. I rummaged through Dr. Stowe's medical bag while he bearer watched from across the tent. I found a small black book. I've leafed through it with my hand still, hidden in the bag. It was a small case history book with sketchy data about his cases, the treatment given the medication prescribed. I very quietly tore out the last page, ponded and slipped in my pocket as I creaked to an approximate upright position. Find anything to quiet the little woman tomorrow? No, not a thing. It's not a thing. I'll try a drugstore. Tablets of cyclodorm grains one and a half. One tablet with warm water for nerves or sleep. What is it? It's a common sedative, but I can't sell you any without a prescription. Well, can you tell me anything about those drugs? Some, but you will find a lot more in Dr. Torrell Solman, textbook on pharmacology. Textbook of pharmacology? It's only in the main library, I think, but it's complete.  And Degas was right. The textbook of pharmacology told me all I wanted to know. Also, this was a very limited edition. It was probably the only one of its kind that had on the page devoted to cyclodrome, a smudge of lips stick in the shape of a woman's finger. It was all and more than I wanted to know. And all at once, I was old, very old. From now on, I was going to leave illusions to high school girls and magicians. Hello, boy. Back again. I see you're dressed for work, Lorena. Did Pat and I return? I wouldn't know. But I think I do know who killed the Swede. Pat and I? I gravely doubt that. Well, then who? Not Altegonoffi.   Was the Swede all right when he went up the tassin area last night? Well, of course. Or was he just slightly under the influence of a sedative drug that calms the nerves? Yes, but slows up there reaction time. I don't understand such matters. You admitted to me today that it isn't wise to take such sedatives before you act. But you did get a prescription for such tablets from Dr. Stowe and you said nothing about them. Well, I was upset after the Swede was killed. I needed some. But according to Dr. Stowe's case that you got the tablets before the Swede was killed and you left him at the bar for an hour yesterday while you did a little medical research at the remaining library. And that night the Swede split second timing didn't quite split, did it? Of course you weren't afraid to go up with tassin area today. He didn't miss the Swede. The Swede missed him. I hated him. You didn't want him. You just wanted the circus all of it.  Only it was too perfect. You couldn't pin the murder on tassin area. You had to think of something more down to earth.   He knew that you had those tablets. He knew that the Swede didn't make mistakes. Last night when tassin area heard you and Stowe whispering together he did. Stowe was telling you what he suspected wasn't it. He was a doctor and he is furious at the thought of being used in a murder.  No.   That would pin it on tassin area. You let Stowe take you in his arms to muffle a shot. That was particularly pretty. No, little boy. It was not. No, it was not.  Well, it's time that I grew up anyway. That's for my accident. And Gloria. I've sent for the police, Gloria. They'll be here pretty soon. Little boy, I don't know you there. He's waiting the runway across the arena. He came back. He doesn't even know he's wanted, probably. Oh, little boy, I have let you down. Let me make it up a little. Let me go out there. Will you come down again? Yes, of course. By the ladder, I mean.  I promise it. We circus people won't disappoint you again. Please. They're waiting. Well, the show must go on, mustn't it? All right, go ahead, lady. They're waiting. She ran out laughing, throwing kisses, and I walked out after her. I stood in the runway watching. I watched the small, delicate figure going up the ladder. Then she was at the platform, rosin on shoes, rosin on the hands and wrists, and sultry silence, not a voice, not a breath. Raising your hand in a gesture of exquisite grace and sureness and smiling and tassanile. Smiling. And there it was. This was it. There. Ghostly packs of small fry from my school days, gaped up with me and shivered with kid delight. I was a kid again, walking up at the circus guy and the circus lady, the daring young dame on the flying crappies, tassanary and glorian, or positively the last performance, anywhere on earth. You have just heard Van Heflin starring in the new mystery series Raymond Chandler's The Adventures of Philip Marlowe, brought to you by the Lieberbrothers Company, Makers of Pepsidens. Van Heflin will return to you in a moment. Have you tried, have you tasted the new pepsidon toothpaste? It's lingering, minty flavor is so fresh and inviting. Families prefer it by an overwhelming average of three to one over all other toothpaste in a recent nationwide test. They said new pepsidon tastes better, makes breath cleaner and makes teeth brighter. Remember, new pepsidon gives you more invigorating earium foam. It sweeps you away. No wonder it's the three to one favorite with families all over America. Get new pepsidon with earium for your family right away. Now here is Van Heflin star of The Adventures of Philip Marlowe. King Leoparty had the hottest trumpet and the coldest eye in show business and he loved yellow silk so they called him the king in yellow. We consider his short eventful life next week when is Philip Marlowe, I have some business with the king in yellow. Tonight's story was written by Milton Geiger based on the character of Philip Marlowe the screen's most famous private detective created by Raymond Chandler. Heard with Van Heflin tonight as Gloria was Lorraine Tuttle. The original music was composed and conducted by Lynn Murray. This is Wendell Niles inviting you to listen again next week at this same time to another exciting mystery on The Adventures of Philip Marlowe starring Van Heflin with a distinguished cast. This is NBC, The National Broadcasting Company.


Let's have a moment of centering silence. And now let's be musically present. The words are in your program. The First Unitarian Society of Madison. This is a community where curious seekers gather to explore spiritual, ethical, and social issues in an accepting and nurturing environment. Unitarian universalism supports the freedom of conscience of each individual as together we seek to be a force for good in the world. My name is Rob Savage. I'm president of the board of trustees here. And on behalf of the congregation, I would like to extend a special welcome to visitors. We are a welcoming congregation.  Newcomers are encouraged to stay for our fellowship hour after the service. And to visit the library, which is directly across from the center doors of the auditorium. Bring your drinks and questions. Members of our staff and lay ministry will be on hand to welcome you. You may also like for persons holding teal, stoneware mugs. These are FUS members knowledgeable about our faith community who would love to visit with you. Experienced guides are generally available to give building tour after each service. So if you'd like to learn more about our sustainably designed addition or our national landmark meeting house, please meet near the large glass windows over here immediately after the service. We welcome children to stay for the duration of the service. But if a child needs to move around or talk, the child haven or the commons are both good areas to hear and see the service. Speaking of quiet, I hope you've all turned your cell phones and other electronic devices off so that we can enjoy our service today. I'd like to acknowledge those folks who help us make our services possible. If you haven't already signed up for something to do like this, I would encourage you to try. It's really not very hard. If I can stand up here and talk, you could go back and help in the ushering or the sound system. It's really not very hard, and it's really important. So at any rate, OK. Sound operator, Dan and Rachel Bennett, lay minister, Anne Smiley. Greeter was Janine Nussbaum. Usher's are Shirley Inhorm, Stan Inhorm, and Anne Smiley. Hospitality, Mary Elizabeth Kunkel is out there. Helping with that is Jean Hill. Didn't wear my glasses up here, so I got to make sure I'm actually reading it correctly. And the flowers today are from Sandy Plish. We have two announcements, one of them that was given to me and one of which I gave to myself. In an effort to remind ourselves and others of the impact of continued racial violence in our society, we will make and hang flags on our lawn this week, each one with the name of a life lost. The equity ministry team has a list of names and materials. We invite your help. After services today, there will be a table where you can take a moment and add a name. The other announcement is that after this service, we have one of our parish meetings. The food hollers, as always, are serving us some good, healthy food. And we would really welcome your presence here to help us as we keep this place running. So enjoy the meeting. We gather here this morning as individual people, young and old, male, female, temporarily able, disabled, gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered, straight, atheist, atheist, agnostic, Christian, Buddhist, humanist, Jew. We gather, however, as a community of people who are more than categories. We gather here, each ministering to the other, meeting one another's strengths, encouraging greater wholeness. We give thanks for this extraordinary blessing, the gathering together of separate unique individuals as a whole, one company, one congregation, one spiritual body. Here may our minds be stretched, our hearts be opened, our souls rekindled. Here may we feel secure enough to acknowledge our brokenness and, at the same time, be stirred by love's endless possibilities. Please rise in body or in spirit for the lighting of our chalice. And I invite you to join your voices with mine in our words of affirmation. To be open to new truth, respectful of all opinion, patient with all people, this is our religion. To speak responsibly, to choose wisely, to act conscientiously, these are the marks of a mature faith. We come together seeking not only comfort and support, but the stimulus we need to become the best possible persons. And now I invite you to join your voices in song as we sing together hymn number 1031. And in the spirit of loving kindness, please turn now and extend a warm greeting to your neighbor in the spirit of meditation. We are now in the midst of autumn, a time of great beauty and of great busyness. Memories of mystery novels and swimming pools, they seem distant now. Life's pace has quickened. Its traffic has become more congested. The days rush forward as if they couldn't wait to get to winter. But it feels good to be engaged, to experience again that surge of autumn energy, and step lively to the rhythms of labor and learning and commerce. Vibrant colors, the cold prickly dawn, the clamor of migrating flocks, air saturated with the dusty smell of fallen leaves. The scene is set, the signs auspicious for meaningful work and spirited play. And in the midst of all this hubbub, the soccer games and the clearance sales, the furnace maintenance and the full gutters, may we remember that for some, this season is a distressing time, a time when tight budgets are strained by higher heating bills and the need for heavier clothing, when holiday shopping is an unexercised luxury. Those of us who have been blessed with good jobs and golden opportunities, who arise each day in hope and in expectancy, may we never become so consumed, so caught up in our own life issues and agendas that compassion and consideration is crowded out. May our busy beating hearts be open this season to all that is lovely and to all that still needs our love. Let us continue in a moment or two more of silence. Blessed be and amen. This is one of those occasions when our young people aren't with us at the beginning of the hour, at least most of them, because of children's chapel, which has been taking place over in the landmark auditorium. They have their own little dedicated children's service for the first part of the hour before going to classes. Normally I would share a message for all ages, generally in the form of a story, but I still have a story for you. Two, in fact. The first one comes from the Quaker tradition. Daniel Gorman was preparing his horse and buggy one Sunday morning, hurrying as he and his wife would be late for the Quaker meeting if they weren't off soon. Their two boys had already started on the 10-mile ride a half an hour ago, and their daughter, little Hetty, she would stay home today. Hetty didn't mind staying alone, and the long drive usually tired her out. She was only nine years old, and this was just too much to expect of a child. As he had finished his preparations, John Perkins appeared around the corner of the barn. Daniel was surprised by this. Although John was their nearest neighbor, six miles of main wilderness separated their two farms. Perkins, he should have been on his way to meeting now instead of out here calling out a friend. Perkins spoke quickly, Daniel, I don't think it's safe for you to go to meeting today. What's the matter, John? The boys are already off, wife and I, we're just leaving. Hetty is going to be here by herself today. Oh, Hetty should not be left alone. Listen, Daniel, you remember Tom Smith. Well, he and two men were seen in the woods near Crooked Fork just the other day, and they know all about your silver tankard and plates, and Tom swore one day when he was drunk that he was gonna take those away from you before the end of the summer. You know what that means. Daniel knew only too well. Tom Smith and his gang were desperate men who lived by swooping down on lonely farmhouses one after another and taking by force whatever was valuable within. Then they would disappear into the woods out of the reach of the law. In this thinly settled country of two centuries ago, a police force that just wasn't known. Everyone in this part of Maine, on the other hand, knew about the Gordon tankard and silver plates brought from England years earlier. So Daniel stood there in deep thought. His religious faith was very simple and it was profoundly deep. Here, here indeed was a severe test. And a thieves might not come. Neighbor John might be mistaken. And still, the risk of leaving little Hedy alone, that was great. And yet, Daniel said to himself, that's what I'm gonna do. My duty is plainly to go to the meeting and to take her with us would mean that I was teaching her to be afraid. He would place her in God's hands and trust that she would be okay. Hedy, Hedy said Daniel as he kissed her somewhat more solemnly than usual and then climbed into the wagon with his wife. If any strangers come while we are gone, Hedy, treat them well. We conspire of our abundance to feed the poor and what is gold and silver compared to God's word of love? And so her parents left. And Hedy set about making the kitchen tidy and then she sat down by the window with a book. It was very quiet and she was beginning to feel a little lonely. She looked out the window and she was happy to see three men walking rapidly toward the house. My father must have been expecting them, she thought to herself, which is why she told me to treat the stranger so well. And so she ran down the path to meet them, curtsied politely and cried out eagerly, won't you please come in? Father will be sorry that he missed you but he bade me to serve you in any way that I could. Are you alone here? The youngest man asked eagerly. That was Tom Smith. Oh yes, said Hedy, I am quite alone. Now if mother were here, she would do much more for you but I'll do everything I can. The men stared at each other in silence and then they entered the neat comfortable kitchen. Now that silver tankard stood on a huge old sideboard and behind it was a row of silver plates. The men looked at the sideboard, hesitated for a moment and the oldest one stepped toward it. You're going to be seated, Hedy said.  Aren't you? She was in a panic lest her guest would not feel at home. Tom Smith dropped into his chair as if his knees had suddenly given way beneath him. Yes, thank you my child. Yes, we will stay. We are actually all hungry. His companions turned and stared at him in amazement. For several minutes Hedy flitted in and out while the men watched her in silence. She dragged forward the table that stood against the wall and Tom Smith sprang up to help her. She asked him kindly will you lift down the silver tankard and three silver plates? And then she brought cold cider from the cellar, filled the tankard to the brim, butter from the springhouse, a huge loaf of freshly baked bread. And then she paused for a minute. Her forehead wrinkled in perplexity. Would you care to have some cold pork right now or will you wait while I cook one of my mother's chickens? We can't wait, said one of the older men. Just give us what you have. His eyes were already hungrily fixed on the food. And soon all the food was ready and with another little bow Hedy invited her guests to the table. And as she watched them eat, she thought that never in her life had she seen such strange manners. The men seized the meat in their fingers. They gulped it down ravenously as though they had not tasted food for days, which was in fact the case. And first one and then the other took long drinks from the tankard until it was quite empty and Hedy filled it again to the brim. And all this while not a word was spoken and the men seemed to avoid looking in her direction. Finally the table was almost bare and the men had shaken their heads at her offer of more food. Tom Smith started out of his chair and said, come on, let's go. Hedy was surprised at this lack of politeness. More surprised when one of the older men said, what are you talking about?  And for the first time Hedy felt afraid. Oh please, she said, no, it's my father's. Then Tom Smith leaned across the table and took the man by the arm and said, put it down. I'll shoot the man who takes the first thing out of this house. Afraid, Hedy looked from one man to the other as they glared at each other across the table. And Tom Smith looked down at her upturned innocent face and a strange softness came into his eyes. And grumbling, his companions walked out of the door followed by Tom Smith and soon they were out of sight. When Daniel and his wife drove in later that evening Hedy greeted them saying, father, you're strangers, they came and I tried to treat them as well as I could but you know what? The strangest thing, they forgot to thank me. And the second story of more recent derivation, in fact it was published just a month or so ago in the literary magazine, The Sun, comes from Cindy Debord. My husband, our four kids and I, we simply adored living in Casablanca, Morocco. And when it came time to leave after four years it was really hard for us to separate to go home to Michigan. Now living in a third world country had taught us to reduce our belongings to the bare essentials. And even though we lived very simply when we decided that we were going to leave we gave away all of our remaining books and our furnishings. We took only a few clothes with us. But one thing we simply could not leave behind in Africa was our dog, Buddy. Despite her boy name, Buddy is a she. A short haired, tailless mutt that we had saved from a shelter here in Casablanca. And Buddy had been our companion through many challenges and many hardships these past four years. Well our flight out of Morocco was delayed leaving us with a very tight layover in Frankfurt, Germany. And we were told that the airline had arranged a special shuttle to whisk us to our next flight to the U.S. Run, run fast, the attendant said. Well Buddy, Buddy was down in the cargo with our baggage. And as we ran through the airport I silently prayed that they would be able to bring her to us. We got to the gate and a tall stoic German woman told us that we just had minutes to get on board. I asked her about our dog, rolling her eyes. She said, well let me check. And she checked and she said, your luggage isn't gonna make it. I asked her what flight Buddy would be put on. She said the earliest that Buddy could possibly depart would be the following day late in the afternoon. Our beloved pet would have to stay alone in Frankfurt for all of that time. At this, our 12 year old daughter let out a shriek. No way am I leaving Germany without my dog. Well I asked whether we could spend the night the whole family and leave the next day. No, said the gate attendant. There were no open seats on the flights the next day. If we didn't take this flight we'd have to spend two nights in Frankfurt, Germany. My husband glared at me. Everybody's waiting for us home in Michigan. I glared back. Are you really asking me to leave Buddy all alone in Germany for over a day? The gate attendant asked again, what are you gonna do? Our daughter squeezed my arm and said, I'm not leaving. My husband grabbed the other arm and started pulling me toward the gate. The woman held out our passes to us and said, what are you gonna do? You've got to decide right now. And so with my daughter waiting, with my husband angry, all the emotions of the past several days surged forth and I began crying and then I began swearing. And then just then the desk phone rang. The woman's assistant answered, yeah? Okay. He hung up the phone and he yelled, we got the dog and a cheer rose up. Not just from us, but from the entire line of passengers who had been watching this small spectacle unfold. Yes, we got the dog. Thank you for that rouser. I hope that got your attention. And we'll be returning to that theme of Umbudtu a little bit later on. Well, you probably realize that it's not too bad on Sunday. But if you happen to be exiting from First Unitarian Society's parking lot on a weekday afternoon between four and six o'clock, well, it can take a while. Employees at UW Hospital are finishing their shifts during that period and I have seen lines of cars stretching all the way from the stoplight at University Avenue down to the Nielsen Tennis Facility. And people are tired, people are anxious to get home or perhaps to the happy hour at their favorite watering hole. And so if you are sitting at the entrance of our campus trying to make a turn, you certainly do hope that another driver will take pity and extend a small courtesy. We've all been in comparable situations and we know what it feels like, I believe, to see other drivers looking you directly in the eye and yet failing to yield. We feel misused.  And no matter how positive our experience of the day has been, now we probably feel a little disgruntled. Now, fortunately, the situation I've just described doesn't occur, at least in my case, all that often because in general, the folks traveling home on Highland Avenue and University Bay Drive, hey, these are upper-mid-westerners, they're more or less decent. And after a moment or two, somebody usually will pause long enough for me to make my turn. And then almost immediately, any exasperation I might have felt turns to gratitude, accompanied by a renewed faith in my fellow Homo sapiens. The late Unitarian minister, Arthur Foote once wrote, good manners lubricate human relations. Thoughtfulness and consideration are ways in which we care for one another. Another former colleague and mentor of mine, Jack Taylor, echoes that thought, saying that politeness is love in action. And he continues, our days are often filled with stress, weighty issues pressed down upon us. And so it's easy to excuse our sharp words and our scrambling instances of impoliteness. But the fact remains that the second spent or not spent in some polite act, that reveals more about our faith in love than all of our high-flown rhetoric or our declarations on appropriate alters. It's easy to believe in love. The rub comes in doing it. What we're talking about here are common courtesies, the small, easy to execute gestures that do serve to instill a sense of social solidarity despite our differences in wealth, age, social standing, ethnicity or religion. The 18th century British philosopher and statesman Edmund Burke believed that a society needed to promote good manners as much if not more than to pass good laws because he said law touches us but here and there. But manners have a more or less continuous effect on us as we all try to negotiate the social terrain. But have manners, politeness, courtesy, if you will. Have these fallen from favor in recent times? The Italian psychotherapist Piero Ferrucci says that we are in the midst of a global cooling that our human relations are becoming cooler. And the former Benedictine priorist Joan Chiddister agrees saying that the world has never been in greater need of hospitality. And at times it does seem to be the case that rudeness and incivility have become the rule rather than the exception. The recent presidential and vice presidential debates, they featured continual interruptions and violations of decorum. And far from a mutually respectful disputation over important and pressing issues, these rhetorical contests more closely resemble boxing matches full of punches and counter punches. But if common courtesy is not practiced as routinely as it once was, what might have caused that shift? Well, we know that when it comes to politics, the electorate has become increasingly polarized, staking out positions, taking sides in what has become an unyielding zero-sum game. And so competitors for political office are increasingly viewed, not as honorable opponents, but as implacable foes. And this has led in turn to a no-holds-barred approach to electioneering in which courtesy becomes irrelevant, if not counterproductive. The bad thing here is that open displays of rudeness by political rivals. That has the effect of establishing an unwelcome behavioral standard. According to research recently reported in Scientific American, discourteous words and acts, they exert a powerful influence over those who are exposed to them. Witnesses to such conduct, the research shows, are likely, more likely themselves, to become perpetrators. Like a virus, rudeness appears to be contagious. Without our knowledge, without our conscious ascent, it creates an impression which subsequently influences our own deportment. Even if we consider ourselves a nice person, we will find ourselves emulating unseemly behavior that others have modeled for us and given approval to. Now there are other factors that work as well. When people are under pressure, when they feel stressed, as many Americans do these days, they tend to become more self-absorbed and as a result, less sensitive to others. Wrapped up in our own problems, we have difficulty responding to others in ways that are more positive, more affirming. And so in surveying employees at 18 different corporations, professor of business at Georgetown, Christine Poroth, asks these employees, what causes you to act uncivially with your coworkers? And over half of those queried said, it's because we're overloaded. And 40% complained that they have no time to be nice. Well then, some of us are also just skeptical of courtesy. Viewing it as superficial, insincere, maybe even manipulative. Haven't you noticed it prevail in the world in general? The novelist Eudora Welty once wrote, beware the man with manners. Now we Americans like to think of ourselves as a rather informal people, suspicious of those who try to put on airs, so to speak. The little social niceties in those old books of etiquette, they don't hold a lot of appeal to many of us. We prefer to be our simple unvarnished selves and we expect other people to accept us on our own terms. And thus, courtesy can be construed as a mask that people put on to hide their true feelings or their underlying intentions, not as a manifestation of true fellow feeling. From the romantic poets to the transcendentalists to the summer of love hippies, K.J. Delantonio writes, many in America have rejected this supposed facade of good behavior in favor of being true to their own inner nature. Good manners become mere mannerisms, the argument goes, which serve only to put barriers in the way of deeper and more honest connections. But if the currency of courtesy is perhaps worth less than in past centuries, can we afford to discount it even further? We now live in a mass society. We rub shoulders on a regular basis with strangers and passing acquaintances. How shall we treat these anonymous or near anonymous souls? Rudely, even if we opt for indifference, we only contribute to a further coarsening of our collective life. And there's also an element of self-interest here.  People who are regularly subjected to rudeness suffer from hypertension, ulcers, and insomnia at a higher rate than those who have been spared such experiences. So if we are at all interested in creating a happier, healthier environment for everyone, we would do well to be a little more disingenuous at times, acting graciously even when we really don't feel like it. People often ask me, the writer Aldous Huxley remarked in one of his last lectures, people often ask me what is the most effective technique for transforming one's life? Well, it's a little embarrassing after all these years of research and experimentation that I have to say the best answer is just be a little kinder. Now, most of what I've been sharing to this point relates to what we would call common courtesy, small, easily performed gestures that don't require much more than just a degree of mindfulness on our part. But then there's what we call uncommon courtesy, which is more challenging. It may require us to go out of our way or even to call upon certain inner resources like courage. The two stories that I shared earlier highlight this rarer species of courtesy. Let's go back to the debors. In spite of that family's meltdown in the Frankfurt Airport, it is clear that the airline they were traveling on had no obligation to locate their dog. Gate personnel, baggage handlers, they had no personal investment in these American strangers, and their job was to ensure a safe on time departure. Nevertheless, some sensitive soul took it upon themselves to look for and to retrieve that pet. They dropped whatever work they were assigned to do, they adjusted their priorities, and thanks to an uncommon courtesy that they extended, the story of it can't be done quickly changed to it has been done. Our family was once the beneficiary of a similar solicitousness. Trina and Kyle were flying to Madison in the spring of 1988 to get acquainted for the first time with what we both hoped would be our new church and our new home. The flight was delayed coming out of Binghamton, New York, and it arrived late in Chicago. And as the flight was nearing O'Hare, the flight attendant told passengers that they may have trouble making their connections. And in fact, she told Trina that she was going to miss the next shuttle, the last shuttle that night to Madison. She was in a panic. Kyle's diapers were packed in the suitcase in luggage. Her formula was running low. She could not possibly conceive of spending the night in O'Hare airport. She begged the flight attendant to check with the cockpit, see if the Madison shuttle can wait for me. Well, the stewardess was very, very reluctant, but she did go into the cockpit and consulted with the pilot. Upon landing in O'Hare, that pilot taxi directly to the area where the shuttle was waiting, she was quickly ushered off and onboard the shuttle and an hour later, a member of the Madison search committee picked her up at the Dane County airport. This level of courtesy requires as Joan Chiddister observes, a willingness to be interrupted, to be inconvenienced so that others can get on with their lives as well. But the lasting impact that such courtesy can have, not only on the receiver, but on the giver, that can be considerable. So what about that story about the Quaker family and their encounter with Tom Smith in his robber gang? Did that strike any of you as problematic? I mean, isn't it hard to imagine leaving a nine-year-old child alone in an isolated cabin, knowing that predators are on the loose and on the prowl? Their staunch belief in a benevolent deity notwithstanding, why would Heddy's parents take that risk? Thou shalt not put the Lord your God to the test, which is what Jesus said to Satan when the latter dared him to jump off the roof of the great temple in Jerusalem.  Thou shalt not put the Lord your God to the test, but this is exactly what Heddy's father was doing. He was subjecting his daughter to this kind of a test. But that aspect of the narrative aside, it's really about Heddy herself and the practice of uncommon courtesy. And stories similar to this one circulated among early Quakers to encourage this kind of generous and sacrificial giving. Now, Heddy, of course, is unaware of the robbers' intentions or their identity as they approach her house. And in her naivete and in her desire for human company, she makes every effort possible to satisfy her guests' needs. Heddy's innocence, her eagerness to please, that makes a profound impression on young Tom Smith. How can I rob a household where someone has been so good to me? Can courtesy induce a transformation? This story suggests that just maybe it can. There is something wonderful in the notion that courtesy can become an unexamined, automatic process just like breathing, Yifou Toan writes. And when a mark of concern from an acquaintance or a stranger is touched by this genuine warmth, it seems like a miracle. Such behavior, such uncommon courtesy, was also a strategy employed by leaders of the civil rights movement in the 1960s. Martin Luther King and his collaborators packaged their campaigns in ways that were designed to blunt the opposition, that of their enemies, and induce acceptance of that agenda from the uncommitted. Harvard's Randall Kennedy recently wrote that this meant speaking well, dressing suitably, and minding one's manners. And as an example, Kennedy cites the exemplary deportment of African-American college students who sought to desegregate lunch counters in the Deep South. And as those students sat on their stools, quietly but firmly asking to be served, onlookers behind them shouted racial epithets and poured ketchup and mustard over their heads. The syndicated columnist James J. Kilpatrick, he was a die-hard segregationist in the 1960s, but this kind of scene unsettled even James J. Kilpatrick. Here were colored students, he wrote, in coats and white shirts and blouses wearing ties and one of them was reading from Goethe, another was taking notes from a biology text.  Yeah, it gives one pause. Kilpatrick, as I said, was a segregationist. His views later shifted. Three decades later, he said to a reporter in a Virginia newspaper, I should have had a better consciousness of the immorality and the absolute evil of segregation. So one wonders whether those courageous black students had something to do with that shift in Kilpatrick's consciousness and perhaps in the consciousness of many other white Americans as well. That's not to say that courtesy always helps, but it very, very seldom hurts. Now if this is not assigned a very high value in our own culture these days, in others it is thought to possess considerable merit. Ran is a concept that is familiar to many in China. It's a Confucian concept. Adeline Yen Ma says, ran is a complex word. It incorporates elements of acceptance and concession and empathy for another party's sentiments and for their feelings. But ran literally means to give away, to concede, to make way. And that is what courtesy toward others calls for. It means moving away from the me first attitude, moving back so that it can become a you first yearning on our part. And then there's also this Bantu South African concept of Ubuntu, which was celebrated in the anthem that was performed by the meeting house chorus a while ago. And Ubuntu has much in common with that Chinese concept of ran because they both point to the connection between acts of courtesy and the creation of a larger peace and harmony among us. At Nelson Mandela's memorial service in 2013, President Obama invoked Ubuntu saying that this word captures Mandela's greatest gift, his recognition that we are all bound together in ways that may be invisible to the eye, but there is a oneness to our humanity and that we achieve our full selves by sharing ourselves with others and caring for others who are around us. Now I have to concede that I could have benefited from some lessons in Ubuntu or ran in my own life. As was true for many who came of age in the raucous 1960s, courtesy wasn't for me a very high priority. As my wife Trina undoubtedly remembers, we went to high school together, as a teenager, I was just a little too full of myself. And so in my interactions with my teachers and with elders, I was not always respectful, much less solicitous. But then something interesting happened. My parents became the owner proprietors of a resort hotel and restaurant and I was put to work serving customers. And it did not take me very long to learn that courtesy is the key to customer satisfaction. Not always, because there are some patrons who are determined always to be displeased, but the axiom held in most cases. And I also discovered that when those I serve felt satisfied and gratified, hey, I felt pretty good myself. Sheryl Farucci says that the benefit is reciprocal. If we give warmth, we end up not feeling quite so cold ourselves. Now do I slip up on occasion? Absolutely. I am not always my best or most attentive self, particularly when I'm under stress. And that's why I have to remember that for courtesy to become love in action, we gotta practice. Just as I did in the Holiday Inn in Naples, Florida for six years. Courtesy is not a natural attribute, folks. It's a skill that we all have to master. Instilling a sense of its value is all the more difficult these days when highly visible political and corporate leaders act in a less than considerate and often in an abusive way. We do need better role models, but they are around. Those role models are around if we take the time to notice them. Pierro Farucci remembers a time when his son, Jonathan, then 12 years old, was out hiking in Italy with some companions. And after a few miles, Jonathan began to feel rather tired and he gradually fell further and further behind the group.  And he walked back to give him company and some words of encouragement. Later on, Farucci says, my son described this as warming help, attention, a kind word in a difficult moment. It's perhaps what each of us needs, Farucci says, in our own life path so that we can take one more step ahead. Blessed be God, man. Our offering today will be shared with a Grace Hospice for a program that they have started to assist individuals who cannot afford hospice services or who do not have insurance that will pay for such services. And so we invite you to contribute to that worthy cause. And Sorrow's Cares of the Congregation book lives just outside of the center doors on the right of the auditorium. And we invite people to record in these some joy or sorrow that has affected your life, the life of someone close to you in recent times. There are no entries today in our book, but I do always want to remind you that that is an option if you would like to share something that's going on with the larger congregation. So we will just now continue moving right on to our closing hymn, number 315 in The Grey Hymnals. Please be seated for the benediction and the postlude. Benediction, from the Latin term benedicare, it means literally to speak well. Much of ministry is a benediction, a speaking well of each other and of the world, a speaking well of what we value, honesty, love, forgiveness, trust, courtesy, a speaking well of our efforts, a speaking well of our dreams, because this is how we celebrate life through speaking well of it, living the benediction and becoming, as a word, well spoken. Blessed be and amen.


Hi everyone, Shawn with jaspyscasebreaks.com. We're doing 2020, 2021, Penini, Don Russ, basketball, hobby, one pack break, random team number 19 to give away nine spots in an opulence one box break. Coming up in a little bit. We have one other filler to do as well. So 30 spots, everyone gets a random team in the NBA, no vet commonship. At the end of the hobby pack break we'll take all 30 customers names, randomize them, and top nine, each win a spot in the opulence one box break. Here is the list of customers from Roy Di Pietro down to last spot mojo, Joshua Cucas, and the teams from the hops down to the wizards. This dice roll and randomizer is for the break itself, separate dice roll, separate randomizer at the end of the break to give away the spots. So one of the two, three times on the dice. One, two, and three. From Nicholas Bucello down to Michael Robinson. It just looks like a lot. Thousands a lot. One, two, and three. Wizards. Two spurs. Three times there. So three times on the teams, three times on the customers, and three times on the dice. So no trade window. We're not going to read through the full list, but we'll go through some of the highlights on here is obviously potential pulls that we could have. So Timberwolves, Anthony Edwards, Oliver Soria, Nix, Obitop, and Emmanuel Quickly, Michael Robinson, Warriors, James Weisman, Steve Birch. Where are you? Hornets, right there. Joshua Cucas, last spot mojo, Lamella Ball opportunities, and there's the rest as well. So how do you do the image on there? It's a multi-pronged process. So the image is actually just, you just cut it out and it goes flat against that. The plastic goes over that. So it goes to chunk and wraps that around.  So you can use like regular paper. It could be anything that I could put in a gasket. Okay, that makes sense. And then that makes it glossy. Yeah, the clear is the finish on top of the button. Yeah, that seals it. Cool. I've never made a button, but it seems... Well, you're going to be making a lot of them. Seems cool. Someday. Is that homework to take home? Don't come back until you've made 250. I bought this classic punch that could punch out a hole. That should be the size of the button if I did this correctly. Look at this. High tech. We got Rudy Gobert at 99 for the jazz, Michael Everly, Steph Curry Crunchtime, Warriors, Steve Birch, Tyrese Halliburton, the rookies for the Kings, David Callender. And you got a press-proof Zach Levine Crunchtime for the Bulls, Steve Birch, Denny Avdija for the Wizards, Nicholas Buccello, Onyeka Okangwu for the Hawks, Roy Di Pietro. So that's the break, but now let's give away those nine spots. Here is the list of customers again from Roy back down to Joshua Cooke's Last Spot Mojo. And it's the top nine after a one and a five, six times. Good luck, everybody. Sixth and final time. So six times the randomizer. Six times on the dice. And it's the top nine. So from spots 10 down to 30. Thank you guys very much for getting on the break. Hopefully I can do better for you next time. But special thank you and congratulations to Austin McMichael, Steve Birch, David Callender, Nicholas Buccello, Steve Birch, Steve Birch, Steve Birch, Nicholas Buccello, and Steve Birch. Steve ended up with what, five? Six spots? Five spots out of nine? Not too bad. There you go, Steve and Nicholas with a couple there too. There are the top nine after six on the randomizer and six on the dice. That was 2020, 2021 Penini Don Russ basketball hobby, one pack break, random team number 19 from jaspyscasebreaks.com. I'm Sean, jaspyscasebreaks.com. Thanks for hanging out. We'll see you next time.