Rocco Maiolo's Ramblings and Musings

So here’s a brief health update. First of all, physically, I’ve been feeling good even though I’d been neutropenic for the better part of the last two years. I think the math goes something like this: my neutrophil count did a slow decline from normal when I started chemo in June 2014 until I was finished in November 2014. Sometime during my maintenance treatments -- February 2015 until December 2015, my count hit an all time low of 0.0 (normal range is 2.5 - 6.0). Plain English of above: not to over-dramatize, but I was in constant danger of infection because white blood cells, when working properly, help fight off infection. Getting an infection/fever could land me hospitalized -- if not dealt with quickly and efficiently the result could’ve been sepsis and death. Last August 2015, I ended up with an infection/fever and was hospitalized in Kincardine, Ontario while on vacation. Fortunately, I received immediately intravenous antibiotics and lived to tell the tale. Long s

... but only better :)

True Religion vs Tribal Religion Last night on CBC news, a very impassioned journalist editorialized regarding Trump’s win and blamed the American bible belt. She said she was shocked that evangelical Christians obviously voted for Trump, a man who has proven to be racist, sexist, xenophobic, 3X divorced, allegedly abusive to women and the list goes on. She went on to say that America’s version of Christianity is a farce. This morning someone I know posted on Facebook that a win for Donald Trump is a victory for Jesus. I can’t totally agree with the first assessment above. Things are way more complex than that. And I certainly can’t agree with the second statement. When I was a kid I always wondered what adults meant when they said stuff like “religion and politics don’t mix.” And “there should be no talk of religion or politics at the dinner table.” Now I get it. I can see how this could totally separate friends and families. I see evidence of this as I track with Fac

Our Local Niagara Version of "Jim and Casper Go to Church" " In January 2006, Hemant Mehta posted an auction on eBay   where he explained his background in atheism and offered to go to the worship services of the winning bidder's choosing.    The auction ended on February 3, 2006 with a final bid of $504 from Jim Henderson, a former minister from Seattle Washington   .... "Henderson asked Mehta to visit a variety of churches and write about the experiences on Henderson's website, offthemap.com. "  ( Wikipedia ) Henderson also wrote a book about his experiences: Jim and Casper go to Church . In October 2016, St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada Pastor Jeff Lockyer of Southridge Community Church (where I attend) interviewed Grant Lafleche, local columnist and atheist -- hence my title, "Jeff and Grant go to Church".  Click the link below to see the full interview. Be prepared to have some preconceived stereotypes of both evangelical pasto

To all the people who've wondered or argued about or have used John 14:6 as a weapon.  I love Brian McLaren's take on this oft-quoted, much abused text. A Reading of John 14:6 by Brian McLaren

Rocco Maiolo ‏ @ roccomaiolo "Immature religion creates people who know what they are against, but have a very poor sense of what they are for." Richard Rohr Richard Rohr Meditation: Sharing in God's One Spirit http:// createsend.com/t/d-EF94B8FF0D 1D05B9   … 0 retweets 0 likes "What you see is what you are." Richard Rohr 8:57 AM - 7 Aug 2016   St. Catharines, Ontario "Human beings never behave more badly toward one another then when they believe they are protecting God." - Barbara Brown Taylor "True religion is not trying to make human beings spiritual.... Great religion is trying to make human beings human." Richard Rohr 0 retweets 1 like "...most problems are psychological and most solutions are spiritual." Richard Rohr

It’s 2:16 PM on a Tuesday, September 6 after Labour Day Monday and I’m not teaching. Second time in 30 years. The first time was three Septembers ago when I was doing chemo. I was told by someone that I should do something “special”, something out of the ordinary on the Tuesday after Labour Day. I had some thoughts: do a 9 AM driveby at the last school I taught and honk the horn... Do breakfast with some other retired teacher friends… Pull a lawn chair up in front of my former school and smoke a stogie… I have a friend whose mother was a teacher. For years she and her friends took a boat out on the harbour -- their school was close to water -- and rang the bell at 9 AM. I settled for going to café to read -- Joseph Boyden’s Three Day Road -- and blog. Nobody believes me, but I’ve been thinking about all my teacher friends leading up to today. I wish them well. My daughter asked me if I was sad. A tiny bit, yes. But mostly I’m excited to do some things that, for ye

All year, I’ve been looking forward to this: my last day of teaching. Now that it’s here, I’m pretty sure I’m not ready for it. How do you prepare emotionally for a 30-year career to end? The day started with a Facebook friend request from one of my grade 12s. My normal rule is to not Facebook friend students until after they’re graduated, but, hey, I’m retiring and, besides, this young man is 18-yrs-old. I went out for breakfast with 2 colleagues/friends. I asked, How do I commemorate my last day of teaching? One of these fellow teachers said, blog about it. Hence, this post. Went to my mailbox as usual. Got my attendance -- there are maybe 12 names on the list. Only one of them reads “send to office” next to the name which means we don’t know why she was away… likely truant (I love that word :) ). I compare this to my previous school where, on some days -- especially a day like this -- there would have been two pages of absence reports. Made my way to my first period

I've just finished reading Harper Lee's Go Set a Watchman which I'd put off reading it until just recently. Even before all the bad reviews, it seemed to me like the book was a cash/publicity/marketing grab by the publishers. You've always got to wonder why something wasn't published way back when. Why did the author and/or publisher sit on it for decades? The answer is usually simple: it wasn't that good. But mainly, I didn't want to read Go Set a Watchman because I didn't want to ruin the special place To Kill a Mockingbird has in my heart. My main takeaway after having read it -- and after reading a few reviews -- is that it's sad that Harper Lee didn't write more/publish more. She obviously had a gift.  If nothing else, Watchman confirmed for me, at least, that Mockingbird wasn't a fluke. Lee had a rich, deep, measured voice in a dark time of American history that would have been a welcome inclusion to the canon of 1960s civil

Richard Rohr's devotional, Love is One Body, is quite likely the most beautiful defence of church -- the expression of faith in Christ in a community of albeit flawed believers --  I've ever read.

This is my last Fall semester of teaching.  Barring a miracle change of heart or an unforeseen event, I will retire on June 30, 2016 after 30 years of service. So after making this monumental decision, this has become a year of lasts: the last Remembrance Day Assembly; the last time I’m in a room full of grade 10’s; the last time I teach The Merchant of Venice ; the last time I mark a set of Media Studies exams; the last time I have a semester turnaround day (because the next time I have a turnaround day -- in June -- I won’t be turning around.  I’ll be retiring). I had a thought this morning: I’ve taught grade 12 University English every year except in my first year and in this, my last year.  I’ve come full circle.  In my first year, I was rookie guy.  I was given the dog’s breakfast, as it’s called in the business: 2 Maths, 1 Science, 2 English and 1 Accounting. Café/Bookstore in Gorey, Ireland (not a book room:) ) The Science was lots of fun. Try/demonstrate experiment for