Wednesday, September 22, 2010

The Emancipation Proclamation

The Emancipation Proclamation

January 1, 1863

By the President of the United States of America:

A Proclamation

Whereas, on the twenty-second day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, a proclamation was issued by the President of the United States, containing, among other things, the following, to wit:

That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free; and the Executive Government of the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom.

That the Executive will, on the first day of January aforesaid, by proclamation, designate the States and parts of States, if any, in which the people thereof, respectively, shall then be in rebellion against the United States; and the fact that any State, or the people thereof, shall on that day be, in good faith, represented in the Congress of the United States by members chosen thereto at elections wherein a majority of the qualified voters of such State shall have participated, shall, in the absence of strong countervailing testimony, be deemed conclusive evidence that such State, and the people thereof, are not then in rebellion against the United States."

Now, therefore I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, by virtue of the power in me vested as Commander-in-Chief, of the Army and Navy of the United States in time of actual armed rebellion against the authority and government of the United States, and as a fit and necessary war measure for suppressing said rebellion, do, on this first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and in accordance with my purpose so to do publicly proclaimed for the full period of one hundred days, from the day first above mentioned, order and designate as the States and parts of States wherein the people thereof respectively, are this day in rebellion against the United States, the following, to wit: 

Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, (except the Parishes of St. Bernard, Plaquemines, Jefferson, St. John, St. Charles, St. James Ascension, Assumption, Terrebonne, Lafourche, St. Mary, St. Martin, and Orleans, including the City of New Orleans) Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia, (except the forty-eight counties designated as West Virginia, and also the counties of Berkley, Accomac, Northampton, Elizabeth City, York, Princess Ann, and Norfolk, including the cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth[)], and which excepted parts, are for the present, left precisely as if this proclamation were not issued. 

And by virtue of the power, and for the purpose aforesaid, I do order and declare that all persons held as slaves within said designated States, and parts of States, are, and henceforward shall be free; and that the Executive government of the United States, including the military and naval authorities thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of said persons. 

And I hereby enjoin upon the people so declared to be free to abstain from all violence, unless in necessary self-defence; and I recommend to them that, in all cases when allowed, they labor faithfully for reasonable wages. 

And I further declare and make known, that such persons of suitable condition, will be received into the armed service of the United States to garrison forts, positions, stations, and other places, and to man vessels of all sorts in said service. 

And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of justice, warranted by the Constitution, upon military necessity, I invoke the considerate judgment of mankind, and the gracious favor of Almighty God. 

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. 

Done at the City of Washington, this first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty three, and of the Independence of the United States of America the eighty-seventh.

By the President: ABRAHAM LINCOLN
WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.

Monday, September 13, 2010

Let the Light Shine!


Love is the Light that Shines in the Deepest Darkness...

Just as these sunflowers are an image of the glorious light of the sun, let our love be a wee image of the glorious Love that encompasses All!

Saturday, September 11, 2010

September 11, 2010

Today we went to the WTC to remember, to mourn, to listen to speeches, to cry, to cast roses into a shallow and temporary pool, to somehow after nine years make sense of this insane experience we share with these thousands who also come to the WTC each year.


It was a good day. We cried, we laughed, we recalled silly stories and made some new ones. We broke bread with beloved friends and family. We lived. In the face of so much death, of so much grief, we lived.

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Happy 45th Birthday, Tommy!


My brother Tommy would have been 45 today, had he lived.  This is a repost from last year - today my family and I are busy planning the Tommy Bowden Memorial Golf Outing, so that his memory and love live on!


Tommy, 1965


Today, September 2, is my little brother's birthday. His name is Tommy, and he was born 16 months after me, in September 1965. While I would be lying if I said I remember the very day, I do remember the time. I remember being very excited about a new baby, and many family photos taken during his first year show me as a blur, leaning over to kiss my little brother.

My dad's name is also Tom, so we called my little brother Tommy Too (yes, its a poor pun on Thomas II). I still have a card from my second birthday in May, 1966 signed "Love, Tommy Too". I loved being a big sister - I even gave up my bottle for Tommy one day when he was crying and mom was on a call from Canada :)

We played together, and we were joined in complete solidarity. When our next sibling came along, my father was foolish enough to give us a choice of gender. We requested a girl. We received a boy. We told daddy to exchange it.

Obviously he said no, and we didn't speak to him for 3 days. Rest assured, we loved Paul just as he was. When mom and dad were expecting the last baby, in 1973, dad had learned his lesson. We didn't get to choose and we adored "our" little Jimmy :)

Years went by, we went to school. We walked to school together almost every day - it was our time to talk things over before our very disparate social lives took us in different directions. These walks were where we discussed things, like the best jeans (Levis - designer jeans are stupid), how much aftershave should be applied so that a girl's eyes didn't water ( a dab, not half a bottle at once), and how much he loved the Hall & Oates cover of "You've lost that loving feeling".

We certainly had spats, and times when we didn't get along - we were teens, not saints! But all in all, we had a special bond, and we appreciated it quietly.

I remember all of these times so fondly today. Today, Tommy would have turned 44 years old. I miss him today as much as I missed him eight years ago. I miss the baby I would kiss and try to carry. I miss the mischievous toddler who climbed into the coal bin with me (against parental orders). I miss the teenager who would snap "stop calling me your little brother, I'm taller than you! Its embarrassing!" I miss the man who helped me to raise my son, who told my son he would always be there for him. I miss the man who loved his wife and daughters so joyfully and tenderly.

My faith tells me to dry my tears, that I will see my brother again, just not in this mortal life. And so I pray for my soul and his, and I send him this wish:

Happy birthday, Tommy Too!