Muster 2010

Today, April 21, is Muster. It's a day that Aggies all over the world get together, remember their times in Aggieland and their fellow Aggies that have passed on in the past year. In College Station, tens of thousands gather in Reed Arena and perform the Roll Call for the Absent, during which we call the name of every Aggie, current and Old Army, that has died since the last Muster. We light a candle for every name and at the end of the ceremony the Ross Volunteers fire a 21 gun salute.

It's a beautiful ceremony. It embodies the Aggie Spirit and is almost a renewal of Aggie-ness for all Aggies; if ever you doubt why you chose A&M, go to Muster -- it's the night when you remember why you're an Aggie. It certainly reminded me.

This poem is one of many famous Aggie poems. It's called Roll Call for the Absent; we read it at every Muster now.

In many lands and climes this April day Proud sons of Texas A&M unite. Our loyalty to country, school, we pray, and seal our pact with bond of common might.

We live again those happy days of yore on campus, field, in classroom, dorm, at drill Fond memory brings a sigh -- but nothing more; Now we are men and life’s a greater thrill,

On Corregidor years ago today A band of gallant Aggies, led by Moore, Held simple rites which led to us doth all to say: The spirit shall prevail through cannon roar.

Before we part and go upon our way, We pause to honor those we knew so well; The old familiar faces we miss so much today Left cherished recollections that time cannot dispel.

Softly call the Muster, Let comrade answer, “Here!” Their spirits hover ‘round us As if to bring us cheer!

Mark them ‘present’ in our hearts. We’ll meet some other day There is no death, but life etern For our old friends such as they!

by Dr. John Ashton ‘06

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RIP JD Salinger

I was going to participate in Mama Kat's Writer's Workshop today, but something else has taken precedence.

JD Salinger, one of my favorite authors, passed away yesterday at 91. I'll be honest, I wasn't a *huge* fan of Catcher in the Rye, but Franny and Zooey, 9 Stories, Raise High The Roofbeam Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction... Those stories were fantastic. I even wrote my own story, Taylor, that was inspired by a combination of the chapter "Franny" in Franny and Zooey and The Awakening (Kate Chopin, another favorite). There are rumors of a posthumous collection, which I really hope is true, but even so this is a huge loss to the literary world. :(

Salinger, who remained an enigmatic figure after giving the world only one novel and four collections, taught me a lot through his characters -- it's okay to be an angry, disaffected youth: It's okay to want something different, it's okay to want the world to change, it's okay to take every day by the horns, and it's okay to think for yourself. He may have refused to give a lot of interviews or to come out of his self-imposed seclusion, but I think that's part of his legacy and we have a lot to learn from him.

"Just because I'm so horribly conditioned to accept everybody else's values, and just because I like applause and for every else to rave about me doesn't make it right. I'm ashamed of it. I'm sick of it. I'm sick of not having the courage to be an absolute nobody. I'm sick of myself and everybody else that wants to make some kind of splash." --Franny, Franny and Zooey.

I hope to have the courage to be absolutely nobody.

Do any of y'all have a favorite author that taught you a lot?

Katrina and Michigan's Rule of Evidence

Today is the four year anniversary of the day Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast. It ranks at number three of the top five deadliest hurricanes in US history, the sixth strongest Atlantic hurricane ever recorded, and the third strongest to make landfall in the US.

It formed in the Bahamas on the 23rd of August, crossed Florida as a category one, picked up speed and force and was briefly considered a category five before it slowed and landed in New Orleans as a category three. It may not have caused so much damage had the levees worked, but because of their massive failure, even hours after the hurricane had landed, New Orleans flooded under thousands of gallons of water. 1,833 lives (disputed, may be 1,825-1,850) were claimed in the aftermath that ensued when the levees failed. Katrina is estimated to be responsible for about $81.2 billion in damage, making it the costliest natural disaster in US history. The two storms more deadly? Lake Okeechobee in 1928 (2500 lives), and The Great Galveston Hurricane of 1900 (8000 lives). So, today think of those that passed and their families as they still try to move on and bring New Orleans back to its former glory. (Also, watch out for Hurricane Danny as it moves north along the eastern coast.)

In other news, Michigan's new Rule of Evidence has got people talking (and me thinking). Basically, "the order allows courts 'reasonable control over the appearance of parties and witnesses' so as to 'ensure that the demeanor of such persons may be observed and assessed by the fact-finder and ensure the accurate identification of such person.'"

In English, please? It means that if anyone wears any kind of religious head covering (Jewish, Sikh, Muslim, etc.) the court can ask you to remove it, even though certain religions forbid removing them in public or in front of members of the opposite sex for religious reasons.

Huh. That sounds suspiciously like a violation of the First Amendment -- Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

This all started because a woman came to court wearing a niqab, which covers everything except the eyes (pictured left). She was asked to remove the niqab and when she said she couldn't because she was a practicing Muslim, the judge told her she could remove it or have her case dismissed. She chose the latter, probably because removing her niqab in front of men can be considered apostasy, the the rejection in word or action of one's religion. And in conservative Muslim circles, apostasy can be punishable by death. Is death worth the "$2,750 repair bill from a car rental company" she was contesting? Not so much.

She, of course, sued (it's the American way!), but the Federal District Court claimed it wasn't their jurisdiction. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is asking the Michigan court to "add a sentence to the rule saying "that no person shall be precluded from testifying on the basis of clothing worn because of a sincerely held belief,'" according to the Detroit Free Press, and the Council on American-Islamic Relations is taking the judge to court over the incident.

The law goes into effect September 1.

In the news...

So, Walter Cronkite died. :( He was 92 years old when he passed away on Friday. How sad -- he was an honest, trustworthy news anchor that America actually trusted. RIP, Walter Cronkite.

Yesterday, two rail cars collided in San Francisco and injured 44 people, but there were no fatalities and none of the injuries were considered especially serious.

Police shot and killed 12 in the Uyghur ethnic riots that occurred earlier this month. The 12 were supposedly "mobsters" who were not deterred by previous shots into the air. It's not clear whether the men were Uyghurs or Han (the two groups the ethnic riots are happening between -- Uyghurs are predominantly Muslin, and Han is pretty much the majority of China). This situation isn't being helped by the fact that Seyfullah, the leader of the Turkistan Islamic Party is encouraging the Uyghurs to "kill the Chinese Communists...ambush them wherever..."

As far as Iran goes, the situation isn't getting much better. Students are countinuing protests at a university in Shiraz, and now an opposition candidate has come out and say that he is "embarrassed" by the "thoughtless and clear lies" that the government and military is feeding to the world. Maybe it's a good thing that someone other than students and Moussavi is saying something now though. Also in Iran, the last British Embassy worker was finally freed after being held for about a month. He and nine other workers were arrested after the elections last month for supposedly trying to incite protests. As the unrest continues, human rights lawyer Shadi Sadr was arrested according to the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran. Other lawyers have been being detained and around 40 other demonstrators were also arrested on Saturday. Sadr is apparently in poor health and due to have surgery sometime in the next week.

Just one more reason to think my family is crazy.

Okay, so, I was planning on blogging about mother's day and how wonderful it was to see my mom (she drove down to see me at TAMU) and how thankful I am for her. And while I was thankful for her yesterday, I'm not so thankful now.

I realize that sounds awful, but I'm really upset.

Late last night, I found out that my Great-Aunt Mildred passed away early Sunday morning. I was floored when I found out. I mean, she'd been sick recently and I knew she was in a lot of pain so part of me is glad she's not in pain anymore, but I'd kind of expected her to pull through. I shouldn't have expected that and taken her health for granted, but how many people honestly expect death? I digress; I was devastated when I found out from my cousin. Of course, I immediately called my mom to tell her and to my surprise, she said, "I know."

She knew? She'd been here with me that morning and she knew? And she didn't tell me?

Well, I asked her why she didn't tell me and after a few minutes of stammering and talking in circles, she finally admitted that the family had decided not to tell me. My entire family decided not to tell me (except my cousin, apparently). They actually decided that not telling me was the best answer because of finals. I asked when they had planned on actually telling me and she said Thursday at the earliest, but probably more like Sunday because I have my friend's prom to go to.

Let's reiterate. They were going to wait until a week after she passed to tell me because of a few tests and a prom.

Pushing the betrayal I felt by the alone aside, I asked when the funeral was going to be. This led to more stammering before she finally said that it would probably be Wednesday. My last two finals are on Wednesday. The funeral would be roughly 6 hours away. There's no possible way I could make that. So, I ask her to call me as soon as the date and time are confirmed, thinking that if it is on Wednesday, I still have time to reschedule my finals for Tuesday and make the funeral. I retire to my room to deal with the fact that this wonderful woman who loved me and my entire family unconditionally has passed away and I realize that my world feels a little emptier without her in it.

Today, I wake up at noon and immediately check my phone to see if my mom has called to let me know when the funeral will be. I have no missed calls, which shocks me. My mother said she was going to find out at about 7 am when the funeral was. So, I call her to see if she knows and maybe just forgot to call. She doesn't answer and I leave a message, asking her to call me as soon as possible.

I call her again at one. No answer. Two PM: no answer. Three o'clock, four o'clock, five o'clock: No answer. I left a message each time. I tried calling other family members. No answers.

At this point, I'm starting to get anxious. Did they decide to have the funeral today? Or is it just coincidence none of them answered? My mom hasn't answered all day... is she okay? Did something else happen? Are they trying to keep more stuff from me? Should I go ahead and reschedule my finals for Tuesday? Well, the family is really widespread, they probably couldn't all get there by Wednesday, so what if they do have it Thursday or Friday? What the hell am I supposed to do, hundreds of miles from the nearest family member, when no one will answer the phone and tell me what's going on?

Finally, my mother calls me back at 9:16 PM. By that point, my rationale that it will be on Thursday has won out (I also added in that my mother knew I knew and that she couldn't possibly be cruel enough to deny me the chance to honor my Aunt at her funeral), so I haven't emailed my profs and asked to reschedule. I've packed up most of my dorm so I can leave as soon as my finals are over and drive straight to Arkansas (where the funeral was supposed to be). Well, my mother calls me back, and I immediately ask "Okay, so, what time is the funeral?"

After a minute or so of talking in circles she tells me: Wednesday, 2 PM. Of course.

She soon admitted to having found out at 7 am that morning and having ignored all my phone calls because she didn't want me to reschedule my finals because she didn't want me to rush through them and possibly get a bad grade on them. She knew if she waited late enough, I wouldn't be able to reschedule my finals in time to make it to the funeral.

Let's get this straight: First, they were just not going to tell me because of a few tests and a dance. Then, when I found out, they decided to not tell me when the funeral was so I wouldn't get a bad grade on my finals. Did they think I was going to be happy that they didn't tell me until a week later? "Oh, thanks family for not telling me so I could take a test and go to someone else's prom and be happy"? Do they really think I'm going to get a good grade on finals now? "Oh, my Aunt just died and my family has virtually denied me all chances to go to her funeral and get some closure and say goodbye... LET'S ACE THIS TEST!"? Like...honestly? And did they really think I was going to cope better without my family? Without going to the funeral? Without that closure? What honestly made them think this was the best way of going about this?