The Parish Youth Club at St. Luke's in Buffalo published a newsletter called PYC Monthly. Volume 3, No.3 of the six-page, 12" by 9" publication, professionally printed on inexpensive wartime stock, was the "Easter Servicemen's Issue."
Father Fimowicz wrote the Pastor's Message on the first page. According to Eugene, Fr. Fimowicz used to take off his shoes and socks, hold up the skirts of his cassock, and run barefoot through the snow around the neighborhood of St. Luke's Rectory. He would laugh and say that it was refreshing and good for his health.
Who wants to translate the Pastor's Message for us? It looks like an entertaining job.
There's Eugene Norman, top left. I had no more idea that he was a violinist than that he served in the Navy in the Pacific Theater.
"Baseball Transmitted" starts off with "You wave your bat fiercely." It gets better and better. When you got up this morning, did you think you were going to read a 1945 Chinese take on American baseball? Great stuff here at Gene and Clara's.
(I'm sure that the choice of the word "slant" was intentional, and intended as a pun. Usage that we now recognize as cruelty and bad taste was then considered acceptable in a nonchalant way. It was thoughtlessness, mostly, I think.)
(But then, it did go both ways. The Chinese call the European types "ghosts," because they are so pale that they look like walking dead.)
It's arresting to read a description like this. We think, "Sports and athletics are universal in their appeal." Sure, but then we might conclude, from that, that something as out in the open as baseball would be obvious in its meaning to anyone who looked. Not so! A spectator with a different cultural perspective can understand each little part very differently.
Father Fimowicz wrote the Pastor's Message on the first page. According to Eugene, Fr. Fimowicz used to take off his shoes and socks, hold up the skirts of his cassock, and run barefoot through the snow around the neighborhood of St. Luke's Rectory. He would laugh and say that it was refreshing and good for his health.
Who wants to translate the Pastor's Message for us? It looks like an entertaining job.
Click to enlarge.
"Over There" is the report of news - social newsy bits - from parishioners serving overseas. Gene Norman, who eventually became Dr. Norman and the baby doc for Marty and me, told the correspondent that he was "fascinated at the bird paradise in the Phillipines. He's seen some pretty bluejays and other feathered friends. Seems to prefer the Phillipines to New Guinea." Morale-maintaining social newsy bits are the order of the day.
There's Eugene Norman, top left. I had no more idea that he was a violinist than that he served in the Navy in the Pacific Theater.
"Baseball Transmitted" starts off with "You wave your bat fiercely." It gets better and better. When you got up this morning, did you think you were going to read a 1945 Chinese take on American baseball? Great stuff here at Gene and Clara's.
(I'm sure that the choice of the word "slant" was intentional, and intended as a pun. Usage that we now recognize as cruelty and bad taste was then considered acceptable in a nonchalant way. It was thoughtlessness, mostly, I think.)
(But then, it did go both ways. The Chinese call the European types "ghosts," because they are so pale that they look like walking dead.)
It's arresting to read a description like this. We think, "Sports and athletics are universal in their appeal." Sure, but then we might conclude, from that, that something as out in the open as baseball would be obvious in its meaning to anyone who looked. Not so! A spectator with a different cultural perspective can understand each little part very differently.
The Sodality (from the Latin, sodalis, companion) was the ladies' club of the Parish. Note the goad, last paragraph, from the man who wrote the piece: "We wish them luck in their impossible attempt to become baseball players." Tiresome! I hope the ladies achieved proper retaliation.
Julie
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