were you there?

today begins holy week, this week for some. who knows whether judas was a friend/facilitator? i am waiting for the gospel according to scooter when we learn that it was in fact the word of god that directed him to leak materials to judith miller and that terrible terp fan, bob novak.

i should type too that when the yes man came to michigan last week, he said aloud in the theater that the times was reporting that scientists found the link between people and sea and land creatures and that judas did not betray jesus. people laughed. just like they laughed at his halliburton movie and the other pieces.

i prayed the whole stations of the cross the other night at st. mary's student parish. i really missed st. al's and st. joe's where i have usually prayed them. it was so different to do it here. same narrative of arc: in sum, jesus walks and falls (3x). gets up (3x). simon helps. poor simon. meets the women. poor women. poor veronica. poor mother. he is stripped. he dies. i know that we (roman catholics) are supposed to be an easter people, but there's something about this suffering that i have found to be really powerful over the past 15 or so years. my whole time in d.c. i spent lent at st. al's. sometimes, if i missed stations, i would go to st. joseph's. but, chiefly, it was at st. al's. this good friday will be really hard for me -- not to be there to make the walk through the neighborhood. i can only imagine what it will be like this year, with the "new community" designation and all dcop's work there.

i digress.

worked yesterday, laboring over the paper i will deliver in a couple of weeks at the ronald reagan hilton. and then i went to the movies downtown aa to see "thank you for smoking." the scenery made me miss d.c. i got super sick during the movie and about doubled up in pain at the end. sort of better through the night, but some troubles today. yuck. made me think of when i was so sick with kem + twig over new year's eve. thanks again for nursing me, my friends.

today, after palm sunday procession and liturgy of the word, i headed into detroit for a panel and performance that some colleagues have been hosting on walking. the show was pretty amazing. the mind at 3 m.p.h. is pretty clarifying. i contributed a bit on a parade from 1870 in which african americans took the streets around campus martius and grand circus to celebrate the 15th amendment. then, as today ...

"The day was delightful, the bright sun and balmy air of spring combining to make it pleasant to be upon the street."