The Bastrop Advertiser (Bastrop, Tex.), Vol. 160, No. 55, Ed. 1 Saturday, August 10, 2013 Page: 4 of 10
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A4 The Bastrop Advertiser SATURDAY, AUGUST 10, 2013
OPINION
Get out and have
fun at local events
Cyndi Wright
Wright Here
Several events are coming
up in the Bastrop County ar-
ea that you should take a look
at attending. Most are family-
friendly and are a great way to
get outside, spend some qual-
ity time together and maybe
learn a new skill.
On Aug. 16 and 17, check
out the first Bastrop SUP Cup.
SUP stands for stand up pad-
dle boarding and there are
events for those who are
checking this sport out for
the first time, as well as hard-
core experts. Lee Harle, own-
er of Bastrop River Company,
is hosting this first-time event
and it looks like a lot of fun -
and may make for some great
videos and pictures.
Bastrop River Company is
located right on the Colora-
do River, next to Bastrop Bre-
whouse, in The Crossing. The
event kicks off Friday, Aug.
16, at 7 p.m. for sprint races.
Racers will propel themselves
about 350 yards, from the
starting line at Fisherman’s
Park to the finish line by the
Bastrop Brewhouse.
The evening will continue
with the SUP Cup Pub Crawl,
in which participants will
have the chance to experience
Bastrop nightlife. For $20, a
participant and a friend will
each get a T-shirt, plus more.
Saturday kicks off with the
signature six-mile race, the El
Camino Real de SUP, from 10
a.m. to 2 p.m. The race will
take participants from Fish-
erman’s Park through to the
Colorado River Refuge and
includes shallow areas and
deeper waters as well.
The obstacle course race
takes place from 3 to 7 p.m.,
Saturday, pitting paddlers
against one another and
against the clock.
All three events are de-
signed for both the novice
paddler and the competitive
paddler, Harle said.
The event will finish up Sat-
urday with awards for the
winners at the Bastrop Brew-
house, followed by a concert
by one of Austin’s best singers
and songwriters, Bob Schnei-
der.
Throughout the event will
be vendors and kid- and fam-
ily-friendly activities, Harle
said. In fact, the whole, fes-
tival-lilce two-day event is
meant to be a family-friend-
ly one in which everyone can
come out and have a good
time and experience more of
what makes life great in Bas-
trop and along the Colorado
River.
On Sept. 3, the Bastrop
County Long Term Recovery
Team will host its second an-
nual fundraiser, “Tribute To
Recovery,” at the Hyatt Re-
gency Lost Pines Resort.
The event starts at 6 p.m.
and will feature a dinner ca-
tered by Hyatt with music by
the Chubby Knuckle Choir
and local musician Hannibal
Lokumbe.
The national director for
Mennonite Disaster Services,
Kevin King, will be the key-
note speaker for the evening,
along with a special video pre-
sentation by Upstart.
Wright continued on A6
Myths and truths
from childhood
Carolyn Banks
Piece of Mind
I went to a Catholic girls’
school where we wore uni-
forms - navy blue jump-
ers with short-sleeved white
blouses. This was supposed
to put us all on equal footing.
But even with uniforms, status
symbols arose.
A starched collar? Whoa!
But before you got to that
level of detail, there was the
basic division. The class was
split between the girls who
ironed their whole blous-
es and the ones like me, who
ironed only the parts that
showed.
White buck shoes were
in fashion back then, so if
you wore those, you got ex-
tra points. You got in trou-
ble if you wore patent leather
shoes, because the nuns were
convinced your motive was to
offer the world a reflection of
your underwear.
The intellectual ante was
high. In addition to our stud-
ies, when the nuns weren’t
around, we would engage in
serious debates like: if a boy
came into the room and you
were naked, would you cover
up your top or your bottom?
The girls who said they would
just die before they could
cover up anything eventual-
ly went into the convent. The
girls who said they would turn
their backs to the boys and
cover up their bottoms went
on to law school. And I, who
never got around to answer-
ing because the question itself
was so intriguing, went on to
write sexy books.
It was in that school that an-
other girl first told me about
menstruation. I was polite,
but I just plain didn’t believe
her. I thought it was the dumb-
est thing I’d ever heard. When
I went home and told my
mother, she fished around in
the cupboard and handed me
a booklet called, ‘What Every
Girl Should Know.’
Even though the month-
ly process was detailed right
there in print, I thought the
whole thing was an elabo-
rate hoax and that, if I said I
accepted its validity, people
would jump out of their hiding
places and make fun of me for
believing such a nutty thing.
Conversely, it never oc-
curred to me that it wasn’t
true that a person would slow-
ly and painfully turn to stone
if he or she ate meat on a Fri-
day.
I think I’m talking about
sixth grade or so. Maybe fifth. I
eventually took a bite of ham-
burger on a Friday and stayed
flesh and blood. And I even-
tually learned that, dopey or
not, menstruation was real.
Carolyn Banks is the author of five
comic novels set in the equestrian
world. These are available at www.
amberquill.com in the mystery/
detective category. She is on the
board of Upstart, a local media
arts organization, and serves as
liaison for Bastrop’s Cultural Arts
District. She is currently working on
a suspense novel.
VIEWPOINT
A greeting of peace
from Deepwood Drive
Brad Stutzman
Austin Community
Newspapers
“Cead mile failte!” Rev.
Rory Deane called out on
my wedding day. “A hun-
dred-thousand welcomes.”
An Irishman from Ireland,
he is, and so the greeting
for my bride-to-be’s Kenne-
dy clan - there at St. Joseph’s
Catholic Church in Port Aran-
sas - was natural enough.
But next came words that
Rory, through his many de-
cades in the priesthood, had
never uttered before during a
wedding ceremony.
“And to our Jewish friends
(meaning my side of the fam-
ily), we say ‘Shalom!’ ” he
said.
And then, smiling broadly,
my silver-haired, ruddy-faced
friend added: “You’re nev-
er too old to learn something
new.”
Which is what I was think-
ing, a couple of Saturday
nights ago, when wife Ellen
and I accepted Yasir Mirza’s
invitation to join his congre-
gation in breaking the daily
Ramadan fast.
We didn’t know what to
expect, arriving at Bait-ul-
Muqeet Mosque on Deep-
wood Drive just before sun-
set. But, in the spirit of the
occasion, we had also fast-
ed that day. In the spirit of
the occasion, we were ready
to learn something new. Will
Williams probably didn’t
know what to expect, either,
accepting Yasir’s invitation.
He and Yasir hadn’t exact-
ly locked horns, but they had
been at cross-purposes re-
garding the mosque’s attempt
at securing a place in Serto-
ma’s Fourth of July parade.
I was glad to see Will there
and introduced myself to
him.
It had been a long time
since we’d met in person. Af-
ter that, I hung back from
Will and the men he was
talking with. After all the ink
I’ve devoted to the Sertoma/
mosque controversy - on
both the news and opinion
pages - I didn’t want Will to
think he was being set up for
some kind of 60 Minutes-style
ambush.
The congregation had di-
vided up before we got there
- men on one side of the
mosque and women to the
other - as is their way.
The men bowed toward
Mecca and finished their
prayers. And then, gratefully,
we ate - enjoying fresh-baked
flat bread and dates and all
manner of highly spiced food.
Ahmad Adnan - a Round
Rock High School gradu-
ate whom Ellen and I have
known for the past 10 years as
our Ameriprise financial advi-
sor - mopped away the sweat
beading on his forehead.
Can’t take the spicy food, he
said.
Ahmad, Yasir, Muhammad
(with whom I once served on
a public library focus group)
and the other men hailed
each other with: “Salam alay-
kum.” From what I could pick
up, it’s “salam” for short and
the Arabic phrase is a greet-
ing. It’s like “hello,” but it’s
also “Peace be with you.”
I noted that in Hebrew
(which is, like Arabic, a Se-
mitic language) the greeting
is “Shalom aleikhem.” Mean-
ing: “Peace to you.”
“Shalom” is the common-
ly used shorthand and it’s a
Swiss Army Knife kind of a
word. One that means - de-
pending on the occasion -
“hello,” “goodbye” and also
“peace.”
We were sort of on a roll
there, with the interfaith sim-
ilarities, and so I mentioned
that my favorite part of the
Catholic Mass is how - after
reciting the Lord’s Prayer -
we greet those around us with
a handshake and the words:
“Peace be with you.”
Now then: So far I’ve been
kicking around this world for
about 20,000 days and I’ve
spent a grand total of parts of
two of them inside a mosque.
So I’m not going to try to pass
myself off as any kind of ex-
pert regarding the Islamic
faith or the Muslims who ad-
here to it.
Except to say this: The
ones I met, out on Deep-
wood Drive, seem like really
nice people. The older I get,
the more I apply that test for
folks: Are they nice people?
Are there major differenc-
es between the three great
Western faiths - Judaism,
Christianity and Islam - each
of which traces its roots to
the patriarch Abraham? Of
course there are.
I know that religiously
speaking, I believe what I be-
lieve. You probably do, too.
But it would seem to be the
epitome of folly - and the
height of arrogance - to be-
lieve any one of us, among
the world’s 7 billion inhabi-
tants, has all the answers.
The priest in the movie
“Rudy” put it so well: “There
is a God. And I’m not him.”
I always try to keep in mind
that religious traditions are
like family traditions. What
might seem weird - or even
warped - from the outside
looking in nonetheless makes
perfect sense to those who
are bound by blood and faith
and tradition. Some people
believe every word in the Bi-
ble is true in the most-liter-
al sense.
Others roll their eyes at
that notion and side with
Thomas Cahill, the Jesuit-ed-
ucated scholar who wrote:
“God save us from the plod-
ding literalists.”
Some religions use halluci-
nogenic drugs as part of their
worship.
Others won’t even touch
a Diet Coke. Some oppose
dancing. Others still are theo-
logically allergic to pork
chops and ham sandwiches.
I’ve got my own opinions
- strong ones (are you sur-
prised?) at that. But more of-
ten these days, as I lurch pre-
cariously through late mid-
dle-age, I agree with Pope
Francis when he recently said
- in another context - “Who
am I to judge?”
You don’t have to buy into
“it all” - whatever “it” is - in
order to be friends.
I don’t have to embrace Is-
lam, in order to have Muslim
friends. No more than I have
to be gay - or endorse gay
marriage - to believe homo-
sexual men and women de-
serve to be treated, like all
people, with kindness and
respect.
I have a family member
who thinks Mount Rushmore
ought to include Rush Lim-
baugh - up there with Wash-
ington, Jefferson, Lincoln
and Teddy Roosevelt. I can
(and do) still love that rela-
tive, without endorsing all of
the relative’s political beliefs.
Daily, I pray that my “toler-
ance” of those different from
me is not self-serving. In oth-
er words, I don’t think we
should try to “cover our bas-
es,” spiritually speaking, on
the off chance our own reli-
gion is not the “right” one. It
would not be right, to treat
it all like we were betting on
horses to win, place or show.
Rather, I think we should
take our cues from the Old
Testament prophet Micah,
who advised us to: “do justly,
love mercy and walk humbly
with God.”
Our night at the mosque
was not all about seriousness
- although Sertoma and the
Muslims did come to an un-
derstanding, promising to
work together for the better-
ment of each group and the
community as a whole.
Meanwhile, there were
a couple of humorous
moments.
Ahmad noted that mosque
attendance was good, on this
Saturday night, although
some folks only show up at
Ramadan.
I told him you only see
some Jews in the synagogue
on Rosh Hashana and Yom
Kippur. Christians have their
Christmas and Easter faithful,
who are nowhere to be seen
the rest of the year.
And then, as we stood
in the mosque’s lobby at
evening’s end, we noted
what might be a universal
phenomenon.
There we were - Ahmad,
Will and myself - and at least
two of us were waiting for
women to be ready to leave.
Some habits, it seems, cut
across all races and religions.
And on that thought I will
close for now. For what more
can I say? Only this: Salam.
Shalom. Peace be with you.
Brad Stutzman is editor of the
Round Rock Leader, an ACN
newspaper. He can be reached at
bstutzman@rrleader.com.
HOT OFF THE WEB
The Cedar Creek High School Band
deserves the correct ID:
“It is unbelievable that you would misiden-
tify our local high school band as one from a
snooty, arrogant community northwest of Aus-
tin. On Page A7 of today’s edition, that is the
Cedar Creek High School band, not the Cedar
PARK band. How stupid can you be? This won-
derful, hardworking band does not deserve
this.”
POSTED BY SANDY JACKSON ANGELEY ON
THE BASTROP ADVERTISER FACEBOOK
PAGE.
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Wright, Cyndi. The Bastrop Advertiser (Bastrop, Tex.), Vol. 160, No. 55, Ed. 1 Saturday, August 10, 2013, newspaper, August 10, 2013; Bastrop, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth649365/m1/4/?rotate=90: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Bastrop Public Library.