Tag: St. Bonaventure University

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Time to write

I’ve been busier than the proverbial one armed paperhanger.  I’m involved in an internship for the degree program I’m enrolled in at St. Bonaventure University. That internship sees me leaving my home four days a week at 7 am and returning to my home at 4 pm most days this summer. My time in the internship has been fulfilling and I am very glad to be gaining the experience in educational administration.  I’m meeting many new faces and making some new acquaintances too. But, it has left me scant time to do some of the things that I found myself doing in previous summers.  That maybe good or bad depending on your view.

This has been a time of change too and I’m doing my best to embrace the uncertainty and change that has been central to all of this. Where I’m going to be a year from now can not be answered with any certainty.  Needless to say this past year has been very engaging and a dramatic turnaround from where I found myself one year ago. Just recently I completed yet another course at St. Bonaventure University and now in just under eleven months of graduate work I have finished 16 graduate credits.  I’ve read dozens of books and written numerous papers and completed sundry other projects.  I am glad to be moving forward and many tremendous opportunities have come my way. I am grateful for the change of pace and sometimes wish I were ten years younger.

I’ve been asked to speak at a gathering of educators on July 28th. I’m grateful to those of you inclined to pray and covet those prayers. I have an idea of what to say, but how to say it is not there yet. I know it will be in time.

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Every wall is a door

It’s been a long time since I wrote anything here, but its not been a long time since I wrote anything. As most college students will attest writing is not a lost art in college and this year in my graduate studies at St. Bonaventure University, I’ve been doing quite a bit of writing and enjoying it too. Next week I start another course and then this summer I’ll be working in an internship. My life has been very busy and I’ve really been too tired to write.

I think often of writing here, but most days I’ve been very tired so my Facebook and Twitter friends have seen much more of me than this blog has. A great deal has changed in a year. I’ve gone from nearly retiring to being fully engaged in teaching and learning and in the process I’ve earned 13 graduate credits at St. Bonaventure with another course to begin next week. Retirement holds no fascination now. I’m fully engaged and eager to keep plugging along.

There is an old expression from Ralph Waldo Emerson, “every wall is a door,” and those words could not have been more prescient in my case.  I have found that what lies beyond the door is not to be feared but to be embraced and while I continue to fear because it seems to be my nature I continue to embrace too.

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Overnight

It’s been a while since I stayed overnight at Mt. Irenaeus and even longer since I participated in an overnight with St. Bonaventure University men. Last Tuesday night while grabbing a bite to eat at La Verna Cafe on campus one of the young men involved Mountain ministry invited me to join them and I’m glad I did. Following a lovely dinner we moved into the cold and contemplatively walked from the House of Peace to Holy Peace chapel. It was so cold that I could hear the snow crunch under my shoes. Once inside the chapel we had some quiet time followed by readings and then one of the young men introduced the theme of the evening which was “New Beginnings.” Following a reading from the 9 Chapter of Acts of the Apostles by Br. Joe Kotula, OFM we separated into small groups and began to examine what new beginnings had happened or were happening our lives. Following that session we gathered together in the larger group and eventually the topic became forgiveness. The session lasted over two hours and there were lots of young men and some older ones too who shared what was on their heart this night in the middle of the Allegany County woods.

Eventually our session ended in the chapel and we made it back down the hill to the House of Peace and the warmth of the fireplace. I found myself visiting with my friend Br. Kevin and watching these young Bonaventure men enjoy themselves. I finally made it to bed and had a very peaceful sleep. Thanks to Sam and the other young men who made me feel so welcome. I look forward to doing this again and soon. This was my first men’s overnight as a student. There were actually two of us St. Bonaventure University graduate students in attendance. This has been a busy semester for me and this was a lovely way to take a break and very Franciscan too.

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Red Spanish Tile

This morning I got up at 7 AM, showered and got ready for the first class of the Spring 2010 Semester at St. Bonaventure University. I was excited to once again be meeting with this small group of nearly two dozen educators from all across Western New York. It’s only been since July of last year that I’ve been a Bonaventure student, in the Educational Leadership program, but in that short time I feel a kinship the like of which I’ve never known prior. Coming to St. Bonaventure has been like coming home from a long journey. I drove the twenty plus miles from my home in Franklinville to the university, parked near Hickey Dining Hall and then walked across the campus to Plassman Hall. As I climbed the steps at Plassman I thought of my wife and how she had earned her Masters degree in this building. I thought of our marriage, our children, our first date at the Reilly Center and common love of basketball which often brought us to this wonderful Franciscan institution. I thought of the Allegany Franciscans who welcomed me to Kindergarten in 1957 and also of the Franciscan Friars who taught me at nearby Archbishop Walsh in the mid-1960’s.

After finding the classroom and greeting our professor Dr. Gibbs and my classmates I grabbed a hot cup of coffee and sat down in my seat in Room 150. Dr. Gibbs welcomed us and as he lectured I looked to my left and through the windows. The sun was streaming onto the brick of one of the adjacent buildings. My eyes looked higher toward that streaming winter sun and then I saw the red Spanish tile roof and I remembered how I used to sit in study hall at Archbishop Walsh nearly 43 years ago looking at those same red Spanish tile roofs. My eyes misted briefly as I thought back over all those years and the dreams of a teenage boy who could not have imagined all that would be in store for him. That moment filled me with gratitude to be sitting in class for the first time at Plassman.

On my way out of the building after class I spotted the plaque dedicating the building to Fr. Thomas Plassman, who was born in 1879 and died in 1959. He did a lot of living in 82 years. He became President of the University in 1920 at the age of 43. That’s an amazing feat for such a young man. I’m very grateful to be a member of the St. Bonaventure University community and to the Franciscans and others who built this place over the years. Deo gratias!

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Whoa!

I cannot believe the responses I’ve received and the number of site visits my piece on Ubuntu vs. Macintosh and Windows has received. I originally wrote that as an email to my brother who has followed my Macintosh, Windows and Linux adventures over the past decade and a half. One of the readers of my piece inferred that I must have an older Macintosh. I own a three month old MacBook Pro which I really enjoy and continue to use every day. I purchased it when I began my program of study in Educational Leadership at St. Bonaventure University. Prior to purchasing the MacBook Pro I purchased two MacBooks. One for my daughter and another for my son. I really enjoy the Macintosh interface and I was using a Macintosh Plus and programming with HyperCard over twenty years ago. I’m not an Apple hater. Apple Computer has great products, but that being said, I work in education where there are dwindling dollars and when one can purchase two Dell’s equipped either with Ubuntu or Windows 7 for the price of one MacBook one must make choices.

I’ve been using Linux since 1997 when I purchased Red Hat 5 at Staples and a teach yourself Linux in 24 hours book. I’ve progressed from Red Hat 5 to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 and I’ve used Centos 3 and 4, Fedora 1 through Fedora 5. I was on a trip Portland, Oregon in 2005 when I attended a Portland Linux User Group meeting at Portland State University and a guy handed me Ubuntu 5.04. At first I didn’t like Ubuntu because of “sudo” but then gradually over the last four years it has come to be my favorite Linux distribution even on the server side of things. I’ve used it on standalone servers, created Linux terminal servers, print server, a Mythbox, several desktops and several laptops. I’ve got my Mother using Ubuntu and she likes its simplicity and reliability. Thanks to everyone who left a reply as I’ve learned something from each of you.

Since I originally wrote that piece I’ve installed Ubuntu 9.10 on my new Dell Inspiron 1545 and it works even better than Windows 7 did on that platform. I will eventually virtualize the Windows 7 that came with the notebook using Virtual Box. Today I drove over to pick up a computer that I donated over a year ago to the Franciscan Friars at Mt. Irenaeus. It’s a Dell mini-tower with Windows XP Home. I’m going to give the Friars the option of installing Ubuntu and then virtualizing Windows in that too. There’s something to be said for a stable host operating system and a virtualized guest OS. I’v benefited more than once from reverting my virtual Windows XP desktop to an earlier state after spyware and or Windows updates caused problems.

One the features of the MacBook that I really enjoy is the ease of converting old video tapes to DVD format for clients of mine. I did some of that over the holidays and helped an old friend recover memories of a deceased brother that were locked away on tape. Peace!

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New theme

Theme change for the first time since I began blogging on WordPress a few years ago. I liked my old theme, but was ready for something different.  This has been a year of change and I’ve experimented with my life a bit. I followed my heart back to St. Bonaventure University even when the lure of doctoral program at another school beckoned. I would like to get a doctorate at some point and maybe my trip to Bonaventure will eventually produce that. I just love research and finding out new information and applying it. After I overcame my initial worries about keeping up with my classmates in a subject area I had not officially explored.

This spring I’m going to be involved in an internship in special education. It’s an area I know very little about, but its quite fascinating. This fall I took school law and leadership. Initially I liked the leadership course quite a bit more than the law course, but my love of research took me deeper into the law. I discovered that I had a trivial pursuit understanding of such important cases as Brown v. Board of Education.   Going back to school at 56 was also a concern. I was self-conscious about being the old guy in the class. That was quickly allayed by one of my classmates who wrote such a touching response to one of my initial answers that it brought me to tears. Those tears were a blessing and a benediction which provided the acceptance within my own heart that I was doing the right thing.

I also purchased a MacBook Pro because I wanted to be a bit more mainstream. I was afraid that using Ubuntu and Open Office would be frowned upon at the University. I was wrong about that. All of my writing was actually done in Google Docs and OpenOffice.  I learned that I could use open source tools in higher education with no penalty. Bonaventure is a Microsoft oriented school, but many students had a Mac like me and professors are really only concerned if work is done.  Our course was delivered in a hybrid format which featured Moodle, yet another open source application.  My experience has left me looking forward to the spring semester with great anticipation and the knowledge that I can contribute. I feel younger too and energized.

I often found myself on campus working at Friedsam Library. Entering and leaving the library I was greeted by a display of my old friend Thomas Merton. In fact Merton is everywhere in my life, my trips to Mt. Irenaeus, University ministries, walking across campus and looking up at “Merton’s Heart.”  There’s a new theme in my life and it’s really an old theme that’s been restated.

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Thankful heart

I’ve got a whole week off and I’m enjoying it. I got a 4.0 at St. Bonaventure last semester too. Going back to graduate school was a lot of fun it turns out and it was a homecoming too. I was scared at first but gradually warmed up to the idea. Christmas was fun too. Devin was home with his girlfriend and Dara’s spending a week with us. It’s almost like life used to be like except we’re older and maybe a bit wiser.  I got a lot of nice gifts this week. One of them is a Keurig Coffee maker.

I watched a bit of television tonight, but not enough to really spoil me. I spun around the news, but it’s all pretty negative. I even like Countdown, but it’s just too negative. I don’t even read much of the news blogs anymore. They’re all very negative and once I got weaned from them and discovered that I could live without a newspaper and news programming I became a lot more contented. It’s all very cynical programming.

I’ve become an active Facebook user and a very active Twitter’er. One of the people I met through presenting at NYSCATE the last few years inspired me to create a Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud in a virtual machine. It’s working too and I’m learning more new things. That’s gotten me back to Ubuntu and today I used my Ubuntu machine almost exclusively. I’ve been using the Mac Book Pro a great deal this fall and feeling a bit guilty that I sold out the open source community.  Going back to school I thought I ought to be a bit more mainstream. I was a bit wrong as I never really needed anything other than Google Docs and Moodle along with reading books  and using Google Scholar to complete the two courses I took at St. Bonaventure.

My experience once again confirms that Linux and Ubuntu in particular is all I really need to be productive. I cannot rave enough about Virtual Box either. That is one fine product and is my favorite desktop virtualization software.  I’m darn glad I didn’t retire in June too. I’m looking forward to an active semester in a few weeks. I covet your prayers. Peace!

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Fourth Sunday

Today was the Fourth Sunday in Advent. Gosh, The other three Sundays have breezed by. The sun was out today on my trip to Mt. Irenaeus and though it was a chilly 20 degrees Fahrenheit it made for an enjoyable day. Christmas is only five days distant and when I got to the Mountain I climbed out of my car with my bag of groceries. Almost immediately I was surrounded by a small flock of chickadees who welcomed me home. Coming to Mt. Irenaeus always seems like home especially if I’ve been away a week or two. Today, once again the chickadees lit in my hand and I’ve embedded a video that I took with my Flip Camera. I feel so blessed to have these little fellows land in my hand. It’s very inviting and true to the Mountain’s mission they have a way of making all things new in Jesus Christ.

Fr. Lou McCormick, OFM today’s celebrant, asked me to read the Second Reading today and I also got to bring up the gifts along with fellow Secular Franciscan, John Dutcher. Today’s attendance was small due to the end of the semester at St. Bonaventure University, but these smaller gatherings are always a bit more intimate and that is very enjoyable for me. After brunch was complete I drove down to Olean, New York for a bit of shopping and then stopped by St. Elizabeth Motherhouse, the home of the Franciscan Sisters of Allegany. They have a lovely creche that I like to visit during the holidays. I also spent sometime in their chapel. I arrived in time for Eucharistic adoration. Thank you very much to the Franciscan Sisters of Allegany who were my teachers from Kindergarten through some of high school.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWaZ7dfmgNg]

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The Feast of St. Nicholas

Today, like most Sundays I got in my car for the forty minute drive to Mt. Irenaeus. Going to the Mountain as we call it is a Sunday ritual for me. The sun was shining adding a bit of luster to a fresh coating of snow we received overnight. Along the way I stopped at Giant Food Mart in Cuba, New York for orange juice and eggs. A morning at the Mountain is topped off with brunch for all following Eucharist in Holy Peace Chapel.

Today as I drove up the country roads that lead to Mt. Irenaeus I thought of my friend Paul Kelly who had recently died. I thought too of a couple of papers that are due for the graduate classes at St. Bonaventure University in which I am enrolled this semester. Being a perfectionist is not easy. I always want to do my best and there is always some anxiety as the final week dawns. When I arrived at the retreat center, I parked my car and greeted several students from nearby Houghton College. As I walked toward the House of Peace I was surrounded by little chickadees who flew about my head and slight above it. I thought of Paul and the Holy Spirit and how these little fellows seemed to be signaling that Paul was in good hands. After dropping off the food and then resuming my walk to the chapel I was again surrounded by this small flock of birds who seemed intent on accompanying me to Mass today.

I fetched my Blackberry to take a picture of these little birds who were so close to me in the bushes that lined the trail. One of them lit in my outstretched hand and with my free hand I was able to take a picture of my little feathered friend. At once I my eyes filled with tears and I thought of our seraphic father St. Francis. I was truly blessed today as I made my way up the path to the Eucharist. What a great blessing to hold one of these little creatures in my hand.

Today’s readings were special too. I loved the second reading from St. Paul and the one line that reads, “I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work in you will continue to complete it.” This was reassurance in God’s word that my paper and those of many more students would be completed. I’m sure that reading means something different to everyone, but to me today it was a great reminder that my life is ordered by a power greater than me.  The gospel too is one that I love and each year it’s proclamation is special.

In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar,
when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea,
and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee,
and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region
of Ituraea and Trachonitis,
and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene,
during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas,
the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the desert.
John went throughout the whole region of the Jordan,
proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins,
as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah:
A voice of one crying out in the desert:
“Prepare the way of the Lord,
make straight his paths.
Every valley shall be filled
and every mountain and hill shall be made low.
The winding roads shall be made straight,
and the rough ways made smooth,
and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.” — Luke 3:1-6

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Intercollegiate Weekend

I made my way along the roads today to Mt. Irenaeus. It’s been a couple of Sunday since my last visit. Last week I was a bit under the weather with a touch of what the doctor said was pneumonia. Glad to have that behind me as I drive along this morning. The weather is an inviting fifty degrees and headed even warmer.

The leaves have all fallen from the trees and the woods are ready for winter. We’ve even had a couple of snow storms. Driving through Cuba, and then the back road to “Fightin’ Corners” and then a right turn down Route 275 to the hamlet of Nile. Then a right turn and a stop at Times Square and another right turn onto Allegany County Route 1. It’s only about four miles now to the Mountain as we call it. It’s been almost ten years since I first came here. What a journey. A journey of faith and growth. A left turn onto Hydetown Road from the paved surface and then almost two miles until I arrive. After making my way into the House of Peace with my offering of eggs, orange juice and coffee cake I spy the tell tale signs of students, a back pack or two and some books.

I stow my goods and then up the path to the chapel. The woods are lovely today and we’re enjoying an extended Indian Summer. My steps are light along the trail as I make my way to the chapel. Once inside I spot Josiah and the students from Houghton, joining them are students from Alfred State, and St. Bonaventure. I can see Michael from SBU. He’s a new face this year, a transfer and he loves the mountain. This is the intercollegiate weekend and there are lots of young faces, a professor from Houghton College, a few friars, a few seculars and a sprinkling of other visitors. I sit next to my friend Duane Karl, a regular hear at the Mountain. It’s good to be home after a couple of weeks away. Fr. Lou McCormick, OFM is our celebrant. We introduce ourselves as is customary at the Mountain. I’m no longer just a secular Franciscan from nearby Franklinville. I’m also a graduate student at St. Bonaventure University. I’m happy about my expanded role. This has been a wonderful fall and I have much to be grateful for. I brought my new Flip Camera and I’ve recorded some of my journey here today and some of the sights and sounds of Mt. Irenaeus. I hope that you enjoy them. Next week I’ll be out of town, but I’ll be back for Thanksgiving. I can’t stay away long. It’s the air that fills my lungs. It’s home!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgzoXdfx_eg]