Iowa Street
Clarence Eugene Majors, 92, of Iowa Street, died at 9:07 p.m. Nov. 24, 2016, at his home.
He is survived by his wife, Alice M. Majors.
Funeral will be conducted at 11 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 3, at Jewell-Rittman Family Funeral Home. Calling will be from 4 to 8 p.m. Friday, Dec. 2.
A complete obituary will appear in The Republic Tuesday.
North Vernon
Debra Elaine Bates, 57, of North Vernon, died Monday, Nov. 21, 2016, at Columbus Regional Hospital
Survivors include her husband, Michael Bates; sons, Michael, John and Donald (Tabitha) Bates, all of North Vernon; daughter, Jennifer Roy of North Vernon; father, Gene (Pat) Ethridge of Indianapolis; brothers, Wade Eugene, Jerry and David (Sue) Ethridge all of Indianapolis; sisters, Betty (Jerry) Tarrh and Cindy (Danny) McConnley, both of Indianapolis, and Susan (J.D.) Brown of Lions; and 11 grandchildren.
She was preceded in death by her mother, Mae Dele Carswell.
A memorial service will be conducted at 1 p.m. Saturday at Scipio United Methodist Church, with the Rev. Naquita Scott officiating.
Arrangements were made by Dove-Sharp & Rudicel Funeral Home and Cremation Services in North Vernon.
Memorials may be made through the funeral home for expenses.
When he was planning the concert season for the Columbus Indiana Philharmonic’s 2016-17 concert season, Maestro David Bowden could not have foreseen what a comforting and appropriately joyful gift to the community the music of last Saturday evening’s concert would be.
Given to an audience in a time when the spirit of the nation — and indeed the world — is filled with anxiety about the future and a time of division in need of healing, the concert was chosen completely from the music of composers “of our time.”
It included Eric Whitacre’s early and deeply personal “Five Hebrew Love Songs,” from 1996; Leonard Bernstein’s by now iconic paen to peace and unity, the Chichester Psalms, from 1963; and the American premiere of Swiss composer Carl Rütti’s crazily brilliant second organ concerto “Concerto for Organ, Strings and Percussion” from 2012.
The concert began with a beautiful performance by The Philharmonic Chorus and strings of Whitacre’s cycle of postcard-like settings of short Hebrew texts by his future wife, Hila Plitmann. The music celebrates the young couple’s newly found love for each other with evocative settings about nature and love summed up in the first line of the cycle, “A picture is engraved in my heart …”
In the piece, Whitacre confidently explores the compositional techniques which have been polished in his later style that is now loved by choruses and audiences around the world — a rhythmic playfulness in the first choruses (jazzy mixed meters), the painting of vast emotional and physical landscapes through the use of clustered choral sonorities, the depiction of nature through the rhythmic orchestration of the chorus singing nonsense syllables to create a tapestry of tone painting and unusual orchestral effects, such as the icy sounds of a winter day created by the strings playing col legno (bowing with the wood of their bows) which was juxtaposed with a beautiful melodic vocabulary of tender love songs sung by the chorus.
Even Whitacre’s unexpected insertion of the very personal, with an intimate and short solo beautifully sung by soprano Bridget Goodwin, reinforced the nostalgic remembrance of love first found in the midst of a healing universal landscape.
The Whitacre piece, however, served almost as an appetizer perfectly chosen to lead into the Bernstein Chichester Psalms performance. Bernstein’s cycle of Psalms settings, also sung in Hebrew, have by now become part of the canon of significant choral works from the 20th century.
The Psalms settings move from rhythmic celebratory praise (Psalm 108 and 100) to the child-like confidence and innocence of Psalm 23 (“The Lord is my shepherd”) juxtaposed with the undercurrent threat of violence from Psalm 2 (Why do the nations rage?), and finally to a poignant setting of Psalm 131 (“Lord, my heart is not haughty … surely I have calmed and quieted myself as a child that is weaned of its mother”) that grows into resolution with an unforgettable unison wordless melody of ascent.
Bernstein ends his work with a stunning chorale-like setting of Psalm 133:1 — a la the cantatas of Johann Sebastian Bach — that makes the entire work truly a prayer for our own times: “Behold how good, and how pleasant it is, for brethren to dwell together in unity.”
Bowden made a bold and appropriate decision to have the solo setting of Psalm 23, which is originally scored for a child soloist, to instead be sung by the excellent Concert Choir of the Columbus Indiana Children’s Choir under the direction of their artistic director, Ruth Dwyer, and to include them in the unison melodies of the third movement. Their pure and innocent singing perfectly juxtaposed with the fine playing of the orchestra and chorus — adding a new layer of meaning to Bernstein’s already significant message of peace and hope. The whispered comment of a concert-goer sitting behind me as the work finished said it all: “Breathtaking!”
Post-intermission came the anticipated highlight of the concert: organist Daniel McKinley’s homecoming performance of the American premiere of Carl Rütti’s “Concerto for Organ, Strings and Percussion.” The virtuosic requirements of this exciting piece were fully met with McKinley’s committed performance, First Christian Church’s noble Aeolian Skinner organ, and the extraordinary playing of the orchestra under Maestro Bowden.
Special mention goes to the extraordinary solo playing of concertmaster Alan Snow, percussionist Brian McNulty and principal cellist Sonja Kraus. The work is a joyous riot of colors and an eclectic mix of modern styles ranging from minimalism with its complicated phased rhythms, bird songs reminiscent of the music of Olivier Messian, jazzy multi-meter sections, even a passage in country-fiddle style. All of this is unified by the simplest of techniques — a stubborn single note pedal point which pervades the work, the development of a two-note motive that is exposed early in the second movement, and variations on one of Rütti’s own Christmas carols that make up the final movement. The result was a joyously accessible musical experience.
Leaving the concert, one once again appreciated the great contribution of the Columbus Indiana Philharmonic musical organizations and David Bowden to the culture and well-being of the community — daring programming of thoughtfully crafted and brilliantly performed music that uplifts the spirit in a time needing such healing.
Jan Harrington is the Chancellor’s Professor of Conducting Emeritus at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, Bloomington.
From: Bob Snively
Columbus
Right now every liberal in America is pulling his/her hair out and whining and crying about the results of our election. Almost without exception, they are calling to do away with this outdated concept called the Electoral College. The surprising thing is that some in Indiana are joining with them to try to get rid of this horrible way of electing presidents. I say surprising because they don’t seem to understand that without the Electoral College no Hoosier’s vote would ever again count in a national election.
The Electoral College was created so that small states and states with predominantly rural populations would have a say in who becomes our president. The Founding Fathers realized that and developed the Electoral College so every American would have a say and not just 55 counties encompassing our largest population centers. Take the Electoral College away and presidents would be elected by those parts of our country that have the highest crime rates, highest debt, highest unemployment rates, highest poverty rates and the highest percentage of unfunded or underfunded pension plans. Look at a map of our recent election results and you will see that, for instance, almost all of New York state is in red but the area around New York City is blue, and that was enough to put the state in the Democratic column. Same thing with Illinois and a few other states. The smaller number of counties controlled the state because they had the largest concentrations of population.
To be perfectly honest, I had no desire to see either one of our major parties’ candidates win the White House. I think it’s sad that out of a population of some 350 million souls these two were the best we could do, but in spite of how I felt one of them had to win and one had to lose. The fact that your candidate won or lost doesn’t mean that I want anyone to take away my voice in electing a president, so pull up your big boy and big girl pants and panties and deal with it.
From: Elizabeth Boyer
Columbus
As a nation, we have seen a lot of turmoil during this last election and the riots afterward, encouraged by the left and those currently in power. I recall feeling that same anger and sadness in 2008 and 2012, and I also questioned whether our votes were truly counted. Then I did my research and realized how important the Electoral College is to our country.
One opinion that has been thrown out yet again is to discard the Electoral College. Doing this would be one of the worst choices ever for our nation.
The Electoral College is an important system to ensure that all people across the nation are represented, not just big cities and high population areas, because it would be a mob rule if they got rid of it. All people of the nation must be represented equally, and this happens when the Electoral College is used. That is what our founders intended for this country, and they knew that as the country grew that we would need equal representation across the entire nation.
Do we really want our country to turn into a place where we nominate dictators and not presidents? I don’t think so and really neither do you if you’re honest with yourself. Just look what is happening over in Turkey with its “democracy,” and you will realize that a constitutional republic, which is what we have, is really the best course for us and always has been.
From: Nicki Vreeland
Columbus
One in seven Americans faces substance addiction. There are currently more Americans with substance addiction than with all cancers combined. Of all these people struggling with addiction, only one in 10 has access to treatment. The costs of addiction are similar to those associated with other serious health problems. The impact to our community is great, in the amount of people who are struggling and the financial concerns these diseases add to our community as whole.
The surgeon general of the United States has just released the first “Surgeon General’s Report on Alcohol, Drugs and Health.” The report calls for a comprehensive approach to address substance use problems that should include these key components:
Just as we screen for diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease, we should screen for substance use disorders. If we respond in this way, there is a great chance early interventions can be used to stop the addiction process before the disorder becomes complex, chronic and difficult to treat. Also, seeing substance use disorders as the disease they are lessens the stigma and brings more community awareness and acceptance to treatment and the need for support in recovery.
To quote Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, “For too long, too many in our country have viewed addiction as a moral failing. … We must help everyone see that addiction is not a character flaw. It is a chronic illness that we must approach with the same skill and compassion with which we approach heart disease, diabetes and cancer. If only one in 10 people with heart disease or diabetes could receive care and treatment, we would go to great lengths to add services, improve existing services and encourage people to actively pursue recovery. We need to view substance addiction in this way, to improve life for individuals, our community and the country.”
Recent community events highlighting local efforts include the Desperate Households Conference, a Youth Worker Café event and coverage on an Indianapolis TV station about the NARCAN pilot with Columbus Regional Hospital Emergency Department and Centerstone. It will take all of us working together to make progress on substance abuse in our community.
The sights and sounds of the holidays are all around us. It started before our Halloween candy had even been devoured. Turkeys, trees, candles and lights have popped up everywhere you look and will be with us through the start of the New Year.
It can very be easy to get caught up in the whirl, wonder and pressures of the holiday season. It’s easy to understand why. The season rushes in, the calendar fills up with family gatherings and social events, and expectations begin to override intentionality. We can, at turns, be filled with joy at the bounty that surrounds us, overrun with stress because of all that we have to do, and engulfed by sadness as we miss a loved one who’s now gone.
While planning a perfect feast, bracing for any complicated family dynamics or looking ahead to some epic shopping adventure, we may miss an important opportunity to take a break to simply appreciate what we have. There’s a risk of all the love and abundance already in our lives getting overlooked — passed over like tofu turkey.
Finding time to be grateful for the good things in our lives can be a critical game-changer for us this season and beyond. Research has found that by cultivating appreciation and gratitude as a daily routine, we can make the holiday — and our lives in general — decisively happier. Believe it or not, the actual act of being grateful has lasting rewards. These benefits are physical and emotional and can be experienced by people of all ages.
What are some of the particularly great things about gratefulness?
People who practice gratitude, on average, have lower blood pressure, a lower risk of depression and anxiety, and a unique power to heal, energize and change lives. Taking on an attitude of gratitude can decrease pain and improve sleep, promote healthier relationships and improve all-around well being. Active gratefulness also prompts people to strive to make progress toward their goals. Indeed, giving thanks deserves to be given a try.
Now, how can you weave gratitude into your life?
Take a moment to write down something you’re grateful for in a journal each day: a special pet, a friend’s kind words, warm sunlight, a child’s smile, your favorite team’s winning record — anything you value. Share gratitude around the dinner table with your family, asking each member to express appreciation for one thing that happened that day. Thank the people who serve you from the grocery store or gas station to the boardroom.
Look at past challenges and remind yourself what good lessons you learned from them. Celebrate accomplishments with your co-workers at the beginning of a meeting before moving on to new business. All of these are readily available ways to put more thanks in the tank.
This season, however you may enjoy all of its tasty fixings and modern fixations, be sure to also fix your mind on gratefulness. The simple practice of appreciation points us to a better life. Why not make it a habit starting today?
Kathy Christoff is director of adult and family services at Centerstone, a not-for-profit organization that provides mental health, substance abuse, education and integrated health services, and serves about 25,000 people in 17 Indiana counties, including Bartholomew.
Good idea
Since the beginning of 2014, Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. and Columbus Police Department have had a relationship that enables two police officers to be present in the district’s schools on a daily basis. They are known as school resource officers, and beyond providing security they also help foster relationships and assist with mentoring and troubleshooting.
One of the two local resource officers, Julie Quesenbery, now has been selected to represent east central Indiana as an Indiana School Resource Officer regional representative. Her duties will include sharing information about school trends with about 50 officers in her region, and assist with officer training.
Sharing information and best practices are always beneficial, including when it comes to protecting and helping students.
Chance to help
Local residents can help support 49 nonprofit organizations during the holiday season by donating to the Grant A Wish program offered by the Heritage Fund: the Community Foundation of Bartholomew County. Donations fill needs of the nonprofits, which in turn benefit community residents — many of whom are clients of the organizations.
Grant A Wish runs through Dec. 19, so there’s still time to help. Some of the needs are small, other a bit larger, so people can contribute according to their ability.
To learn more about how to contribute, go online at heritagefundbc.org, click on the Grant A Wish logo, choose a wish to fulfill and complete the donation information.
Welcome home
Kudos to Columbus resident Tony Stewart for agreeing to return to his hometown to celebrate completion of his 18-year career as a NASCAR driver with an appearance as guest of honor in the city’s annual Festival of Lights Parade. The event will run through downtown Columbus the evening of Dec. 3.
His success — three times winning the series championship of stockcar racing’s top circuit — has put the city in the spotlight and meant a lot to many residents. Stewart’s planned appearance is welcome and appreciated, and will make the festivities all the more exciting.
Jack Santino, professor of popular culture at Bowling Green State University, wrote that Thanksgiving is one holiday not wholly given over to children.
Rather than emphasizing the kids, he writes that Thanksgiving is more about honoring age and going to grandmother’s house, as in the song, “Over the River and Through the Woods,” though the original 1844 poem referred to “grandfather’s house.”
Thanksgiving season activities are not centered on children.
Instead, the holiday involves passing down recipes from mother and grandmother, recreating the dishes they prepared in an earlier time, and setting the table with heirloom tablecloths and silverware.
The children are not forgotten, but they might be sent off to eat at a table by themselves.
According to Santino, “Graduating to the main table is a rite of passage.”
The traditional foods serve as a reminder of those who came before us and on whose shoulders we stand.
The emphasis is on matriarchs, patriarchs, family traditions and history, as well as national history. Thanksgiving bucks the trend of a culture fascinated with youth- fulness and whatever is trending now.
It undermines the arrogance among us which tends to look down on the past.
Thanksgiving is that rare holiday when we allow children to learn that the world does not revolve around them and that they are indebted to those of an earlier generation.
Martin Luther explained the Fourth Commandment, “Honor your father and mother,” as follows: “We should fear and love God that we do not despise our parents and other authorities, but honor them, serve and obey them, love and cherish them.”
We are not simply to love our parents and other authorities but to honor them, for honor includes not only love, but also humility and deference.
We do this in spite of their failings, for when we revere them, we revere God who placed them over us.
All that we have, God has given to us through them.
To paraphrase the Apostle John, “If we cannot love those whom we have seen, we cannot love God whom we have not seen.”
Norman Rockwell’s famous painting, “Freedom from Want,” captures this well.
It pictures several generations of smiling faces around a Thanksgiving table.
The focal point is obviously a large turkey on a serving tray.
But holding the turkey is the matriarch of the family, and behind her stands the patriarch, fitting reminders that God gives to us through those whom he has placed over us.
That is a truth to be appreciated by adults and impressed upon every child.
The Rev. John Armstrong is pastor of Grace Lutheran Church in Columbus and may be reached at gracecolumbus.org.
I want to talk about giving thanks. Not as an event or specific moments in time. But as a constant outflow in our lives.
The sad thing is that I can already hear the cynics and naysayers shaming my idealism in pursuing love, seeking peace and living in a spirit of perpetual thanksgiving.
We live in a time when old hatreds are coming back to life, old divisions are widening, old scars are being torn wide open. We are being told that this is our only reality and we must pick sides and prepare for the battle. There is an ever-growing chorus among younger generations who believe that love has failed, peace is for the weak, and giving thanks is only for those who live in privilege.
I reject those notions.
No matter how dark or cynical our world has become. No matter how frequently we are reminded or have participated in the wreckage around us through social media. No matter how tilted and jaded the news is that we consume.
No matter the heights to which we have climbed or the depths to which we have fallen. Despite our unique situation or circumstance. And no matter how many times we are fed the narrative that our only reality and response is anger, hatred, division and death … we can embody, participate in and invite others into another way of living.
There is an ever-present reality into which we can enter, a realm into which we are continually invited, where love wholly embraces, mends broken hearts, births a new way of living, gives eyes to see people and the world differently, and changes each one of us in such a profound way that thanksgiving becomes the very essence of our being, and the perpetual outflow of our spirit.
Thanksgiving is so much more than an event, so much more than a sporadic, momentary act, so much more than an expression of gratitude only when something goes in our favor or when the conditions are right. Thanksgiving is a an ever-flowing expression of gratitude in everything, in every moment of the day, with every breath that is taken, and never dependent upon the situation or circumstance.
You received Christ Jesus, the master; now live him. You’re deeply rooted in him. You’re well constructed upon him. You know your way around the faith. Now do what you’ve been taught. School’s out; quit studying the subject and start living it. And let your living spill over into thanksgiving. (Colossians 2: 6-7, The Message)
Let the peace of Christ keep you in tune with each other, in step with each other. None of this going off and doing your own thing. And cultivate thankfulness. Let the word of Christ — the message — have the run of the house. (Colossians 3: 15-16, The Message).
Be cheerful no matter what; pray all the time; thank God no matter what happens. This is the way God wants you who belong to Christ Jesus to live. 1 Thessalonians 5: 16-18, The Message
Thanksgiving is our perpetual expression of gratitude for God’s grace, God’s love, God’s mercy, God’s provision and God’s marvelous creation.
Thanksgiving is our perpetual expression of gratitude, rooted in the love of Christ, for all people, all relationships and all things.
Thanksgiving is our perpetual expression of gratitude, rooted in the love of Christ, regardless of our life situation or our changing condition.
Thanksgiving, rooted in the love of Christ, says right now and right now and right now, “This life is good. And I want to invite everyone to a seat at life’s table.”
Thanksgiving, rooted in the love of Christ, responds in the midst of chaos, confusion and calamity, “Thank you God for your grace, your mercy, your love, and your beauty. Let me be an extension of you everywhere I am and with every breath I take.”
As followers of Jesus, we are present participants in the promise of God making all things new. God’s new creation has been initiated in our lives. And we have been given new eyes and new hearts to see clearly the beauty, majesty and wonder of God right now, even amidst the wreckage around us. And we have been given the present task of inviting others into this beautiful, life-giving reality.
For it is an invitation, not for the privileged, but for the unworthy.
The Spirit cries: See the wonder! See the glory! See the beauty! Move forward in awe!
Be an invitation.
Listen.
Smell.
Feel.
Close your eyes.
Take it all in and delight.
Let the wind blow at your back and let the sun shine down on your face.
Listen to the conversations.
Joy in the laughter of your children. Celebrate that you can give your baby a bath.
Delight in the songs of the birds and the rustling of the leaves.
Be enveloped by everything and everyone around you.
Count your blessings.
Smell the autumn fragrance.
Let the preparation of your meal be a prayer and a blessing.
Savor every bite as if it is your very first.
Feel the textures.
Let the work of your hands be praise.
Count your blessings.
Enjoy friendship as you break bread at the table.
Find life in mowing the lawn, washing the dishes and in all the seemingly mundane.
Be still and marvel at every star brilliantly shining in the night sky.
Rejoice in every good time and bad, for it is all worth it.
Count your blessings.
Sit in the woods and notice every detail of creation.
Close your eyes and absorb every note and harmony.
Glory in every drop of your morning coffee.
Embrace the touch of another.
Join in the chorus of all creation in praise.
Count your blessings.
It is good.
It is good.
It is good.
From the depths of our souls and with every breath, we give thanks.
Brandon Andress of Columbus is a former local church leader, a current iTunes podcast speaker and a contributor to the online Outside the Walls blog. He can be reached at his website at brandonandress.com.
