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TALON'S EDGE |
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January 2000 |
E-mail: uss.aquila@juno.com |
IN THIS ISSUE:
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EDITOR/SUBMISSIONS: Captain Glenna M. Juilfs DISTRIBUTION: Commander Rob Langenderfer DEADLINE FOR NEXT ISSUE: January 28, 2000 SUBSCRIPTIONS: one (1) 33c stamp = 1 issue |
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BULLETIN BOARD | |
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| January
7-Mark Baudendistel 10-Jeremy Burns 19-Cynthia Paugh 20-DeForest Kelley 23-Tina (Widener) Snodgrass 24-Janet & Mark Baudendistel 24-David Gerrold 25-Carson Widener 26-Chris Langsdale 30-Leonard Robinson | |
 Awarded by: www.Link4U.com
HOLIDAYS
January 1-New Years Day 17-Martin Luther King Day February 14-Valentines Day 21-Presidents Day | |
| BRIEFING ROOM |
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SHIP'S LOG9912.11 |
The 105th meeting of the USS Aquila was held on Saturday December 11, 1999. There was no formal business meeting, however, members gathered at the Barnes & Noble bookstore on Mall Road to travel to the All-Club Holiday Party at the Civitan Center in Fairfield, OH.
The following persons attended the party: Heather L. Blair-Collins, Tamara Borchardt, Denny Case, Glenna Juilfs, Rob Langenderfer, Cynthia Pence, Erin Pence, Lynda Pence, & Rebecca Poff. A great time was enjoyed by all and many toys were collected for the Toys for Tots. Good food, good friends, and a fun time.
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 VIDEO VIEWPOINTS
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By Rob Langenderfer Wednesday night of this week I finally sat down and watched the series finale of Deep Space Nine. That was in spite of the fact that one of the episodes from this season was not on any of the tapes that a friend of mine had lent me and the fact that another episode was missing the entire initial segment before the opening credits so I did not watch that one. Based on what I knew of the two episodes, one of them was very periphery to the storyline and so it did not matter much that I missed it. The other may have been more important but that did not matter to me because the episode that followed where it should have been on the tape (there was a rerun at that point instead) was the natural conclusion to the new episode that preceded it on the tape which had a plotline that had not been completely resolved by the end of that story. I just decided to push the thrusters straight-ahead after that one. Before I begin to review the episodes of this season, I want to share a few personal thoughts about Deep Space Nine and its place in my life. To begin with, it had been on the air a long time. Many on the Aquila should remember the convention that was held at the Drawbridge with James Doohan, immediately prior to the premiere of Deep Space Nine in January of 1993. That was just at the point when I was in the process of joining the ship. I had turned in my little blue card at the December meeting and I had attended the ship's 2nd anniversary party at Bonanza or Ponderosa in November (after having attended several meetings as a guest before that), but I had not officially been given a rank yet. The ship itself had just officially attained starship status in November, a week after their 2nd anniversary party/meeting. On a personal level, I had completed my first semester at Thomas More College. Three and a half years of undergraduate work and two years of graduate work, six months of an internship, four and a half months of an editorship, four months of job-hunting (overall, through 2 different stints) lay ahead while Deep Space Nine was airing. I had only just decided to get involved with the Thomas More College Villa Players' theater group and had not tried out for any plays yet. I was still quite active in Youth Knights, the youth group of St. Henry's and St. Paul churches that was still relatively new at that point and glad to overlook my one semester of college. There was no young adult group. I had barely turned 18 at that point so I didn't really fit as a young adult anyway. So many things were still in the future. I remember that at this convention several Aquila members were there and were very friendly to me. I think Glenna and Cindy were there and maybe some other people. Can anyone help jog my memory? I actually got Jimmy Doohan's autograph this time (on a Star Trek VI novel) and shook his hand and sat on his lap and got my picture taken with him. At the convention I also bought a Deep Space Nine Writers' Guide to prepare me for the new series and an issue of Starlog that had a big article about the new series. The next day I sat down and watched (and taped) the premiere of the new show. Deep Space Nine was a show that, at least for me, had an almost immediate appeal. Characters like Major Kira, a former terrorist with a temper but unshakable principles and Quark, a roguish character not entirely unlike Han Solo, and Dr. Julian Bashir, an idealistic young physician working in a situation that was similar to the pioneer doctors of the American West, captured my interest and held them. In Commander Sisko and his son Jake we had a single father and his son attempting to tame this new world of possibilities. Deep Space Nine also had a more overtly religious and spiritual avenue to its storyline, which would be developed through the course of the series. For its first season and possibly its 2nd and 3rd seasons, it was on Channel 19 on Monday nights at 10 P.M. That was something I could count on, a real routine. By the end of its run, it would be shuffled around to inconvenient times and finally taken off the air in Cincinnati, but those first years with it at that time were wonderful. In some ways this was the last time I would feel this sense of having a constant time to sit down and watch a SF series that I knew to be high quality. I will explore more of the reasons for my feelings toward Voyager in an article about that series, but in many respects, I watch it merely out of my sense of duty as a Trekker. Many of the characters of Voyager I don't really care for that much and I don't really like the way they have developed. One friend of mine noted that Voyager has a very bland quality about it. The stories aren't really terrible, but you simply cannot remember a single thing that happened in an episode a week or so after you've seen it. The previous Star Trek series had much more of an impact on the viewer. This was certainly the case with Deep Space Nine. Babylon 5 was a wonderful series, one of my all-time favorites ones, but it was never at a single time for a really extended period of time. You could never get that sense of an enjoyable routine. For years and years Doctor Who was on Channel 48 at 10 P.M. on Saturday nights. You could really get that sense of an enjoyable routine with that show. The X-Files is on Sunday nights at 9 and many times I end up taping it because I'm out at my church young adult group's Scripture study. I really wish that they had kept it on Fridays at 9. Dark Skies gave me that feeling to some extent on Saturday nights at 8 on Channel 12, but sometimes I had other commitments on Saturdays and that show was preempted so often and on for so short a time that a real pattern could not develop. Earth: Final Conflict and Stargate are on so late that I can't watch them except to tape them. (Doctor Who is now on just at that cut-off point that I can still sometimes watch it if I am energetic since they are showing two 25 minute episodes beginning at 11:30 on Saturday night, but it is no longer the certainty that it was 8 to 10 years ago and after that when I chose to watch reruns.) I am babbling a bit here, but I am trying to convey some personal feelings and share some thoughts on different matters and it's difficult to convey them otherwise. Star Trek: The Next Generation had that wonderful time of Friday nights at 9 P.M. for so long that made it so special. Sometimes I would stay up and watch the original series after it at 10 or War of the Worlds during its first season when it was good and on at 10. In many ways I haven't had that feeling of a consistent feel-good routine SF show since DS9 although I am getting it somewhat now with Roswell on Channel 64 at 9 on Wednesday nights. Roswell is really worth checking out as it is a series that is truly contemporary, and more than practically any other series, gives you the sense that these type of things could happen. Jonathan Frakes is involved in its production and development behind the camera. Anyway, back to DS9. Deep Space Nine's final season started out with a two-parter that was definitely a precursor of many things to come later on in the season. It was definitely a shocking story as Sisko learns from his father that his mother wasn't who he thought she was. She was actually one of the Prophets and Sisko had been especially conceived to do some very special tasks for them. There is some good interplay between Kira and Admiral Ross and the wily Romulan representative who is attempting to increase Romulan strength at the price of Bajoran security. Ezri Dax, played by Nicole deBoer, is introduced at the end of the first episode of the two-parter. She manages to sparkle with life and energy throughout most of the season, but she is distinctly different than Jadzia. This two-parter ("Images in the Sand" and "Shadows and Symbols") sets up the idea that the role of Sisko as Prophet will play a bigger part in the series than it has before. This is an excellent story. Its most touching moment for me was when the Pa'h Wraiths try to trick Sisko into not opening the orb of the emissary by making him live a vision of himself as the 1950's SF writer Benny Russell (from "Far Beyond the Stars") imprisoned in an insane asylum. Sisko's courage as he dared to write in spite of all the people telling him he was crazy really struck a chord with me. It was a very moving scene, one of the most moving from all of the Star Trek series in fact. Overall, this two-parter was a fine way to open the season. Don't miss it. "Afterimage" resolves many of the remaining plotlines from the season finale. Worf attempts to come to terms with Jadzia's death and still realize that Dax is alive inside Ezri. This is very hard for Worf to do, and it causes quite a bit of friction between Worf and Dax. A friend of mine pointed out that Ezri Dax never really comes across as being Dax throughout the season. She is just Ezri with a bunch of memories of people who were Dax. I have to largely agree with this assessment, but the series does not really suffer very much because of it, and Ezri is still an interesting and fun character. The plotline about Worf, O'Brien, Bashir and Quark fighting to return Jadzia to the Klingon Heaven is very well done. Worf's interaction with Ezri is really interesting. Some of Ezri's counseling with Garak gets a bit annoying, but overall, even that plot works decently. This is another winning episode. Since it pretty much ties up all the loose ends from the previous season, I think that this is a good point at which to end this review. |
CADET CORNERCmdr, Erin Pence, CCC |
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| A FRIEND From Tina Snodgrass A friend should be radical; They should love you when you're unlovable, Hug you when you're unhuggable, And bear you when you're unbearable. A friend should be fanatical; They should cheer when the whole world boos, Dance when you get good news, And cry when you cry too. But most of all, a friend should be mathematical, They should multiply the joy, Divide the sorrow, Subtract the past, And add to tomorrow, Calculate the need deep in your heart, And always be bigger than the sum of all their parts. |
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CHAPLAIN'S CORNER  |
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SHEMAYou probably have heard that the most important scripture to the Jewish people is the ?Shema?. ?Shema? simply means ?hear?. Hear what? In Deuteronomy 6:4 reads: ?Hear, Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One.? Why is this so important to the Jewish People? Following is an article which shows the beauty and centrality of the ?Shema? in Jewish live. When you examine your motives in life and the centrality of your ?Christianity?, you might conclude that we have overlooked or forgotten the centrality of the ?Shema? in our lives. Enjoy... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- by Dr. Lisa Aiken 'Hear, Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One. 'And you should love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all your soul, and with all your resources. And these words that I command you today should be on your heart. And you should teach them to your children, and speak of them when you sit in your house, and when you go on the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up. And you should bind them as a sign on your hand, and they should be tefillin between your eyes. And write them on the door posts of your house and in your gates.' (Deuteronomy 6:4ff) Jews say two especially important prayers every day: the Shema and the Amidah. We fulfill the biblical commandment (mitzvah) to say the Shema every morning and evening when we say its first verse, "Hear, Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One." The rabbis, however, required us to add three additional paragraphs, drawn from the books of Deuteronomy and Numbers. Besides our reciting the Shema daily, we also say it before going to sleep, over a baby boy the night before his ritual circumcision (brit milah), and before we die. The commandments to which the Shema refers - tefillin (leather boxes containing parchments that are put on a man's head and arm), mezuzah (a parchment with Torah verses that we put on our doorposts), Tzitzit (fringes that are put on a four-cornered garment), and remembering the Exodus from Egypt - are also part of our daily lives. Thus, the Shema literally accompanies us from cradle to grave. The Minchat Chinuch explains why the Shema and its mitzvot (commandments) "surround" us: People tend to be drawn to materialism and give in to their lusts by following foolish, worldly pleasures. We need constant reminders that we are part of God's Cabinet and have responsibilities to Him. Without these reminders, we can't keep focused on what God put us here to do. His lovingkindness determined that we should say the Shema twice a day to help us stay on track spiritually. The general purpose of any mitzvah is to preserve and heighten our spiritual wholesomeness and to attach us to God. Saying the Shema reminds us that our thoughts, speech, and actions affect the entire universe. That, in turn, encourages us to live with ongoing devotion and fervor in our service to the Almighty. The Shema also refocuses us at least twice a day so that we are not derailed by constant exposure to forces that negate our spirituality. The Shema can help us regain our spiritual bearings and infuse us with tremendous spiritual energy only if we appreciate and concentrate on what we are saying. During World War Two, countless Jewish parents gave their precious children to Christian neighbors and orphanages in the hope that the latter would provide safe havens for them. The parents expected that they, or their relatives, would take these children back if they survived the war. The few parents who did not perish in the Holocaust, and were able to reclaim their children, often faced another horror. While the parents had summoned the strength to survive the slave labor and death camps, or had hidden out for years, those who took their children were busy teaching them the ways of other religions. [Additionally,] many Jewish children who were taken in by orphanages, convents and the like, had no parents or close relatives left after the Holocaust. When rabbis or distant relatives finally tracked down many of these children, the priests and nuns who had been their caretakers insisted that no children from Jewish homes were in their institutions. Thus, countless Jewish children were not only stripped of their entire families, they were also stripped of their souls. In May, 1945, Rabbi Eliezer Silver from the United States and Dayan Grunfeld from England were sent as chaplains to liberate some of the death camps. While there, they were told that many Jewish children had been placed in a monastery in Alsace-Lorraine. The rabbis went there to reclaim them. When they approached the priest in charge, they asked that the Jewish children be released into the rabbis' care. "I'm sorry," the priest responded, "but there is no way of knowing which children here came from Jewish families. You must have documentation if you wish me to do what you ask." Of course, the kind of documentation that the priest wanted was unobtainable at the end of the war. The rabbis asked to see the list of names of children who were in the monastery. As the rabbis read the list, they pointed to those that belonged to Jewish children. "I'm sorry," the priest insisted, "but the names that you pointed to could be either Jewish or Gentile. Miller is a German name, and Markovich is a Russian name, and Swersky is a Polish name. You can't prove that these are Jewish children. If you can't prove which children are Jewish, and do it very quickly, you will have to leave." One of the rabbis had a brilliant idea. "We'd like to come back again this evening when you are putting the children to sleep." The priest reluctantly agreed. That evening the rabbis came to the dormitory, where row upon row of little beds were arranged. The children, many of whom had been in the monastery since the war started in 1939, were going to sleep. The rabbis walked through the aisles of beds, calling out, "Shema Yisrael - Hear, Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One!" One by one, children burst into tears and shrieked, "Mommy!" "Maman!" "Momma!" "Mamushka!" in each of their native tongues. The priest had succeeded in teaching these precious Jewish souls about the Trinity, the New Testament, and the Christian savior. Each child knew how to say Mass. But the priest did not succeed in erasing these children's memories of their Jewish mothers - now murdered - putting them to bed every night with the Shema on their lips. (thanks to Miriam Swerdlov for the story) It is natural to find "too much" religiosity oppressive if we do mitzvot mechanically, or see them merely as "brownie points" to be accumulated. The true purpose of life is to develop our relationship with the Almighty such that we experience the exquisite spiritual pleasure of closeness to Him. That surpasses all other pleasures, and we create receptivity to it every time that we do a mitzvah with the right frame of mind. By appreciating how everything we do can draw us closer to our Creator, by continually relating to Him in every part of our lives, and by doing His commandments, we can enjoy His love and nearness. Whenever we draw Him out of hiding in our daily lives, we make Him more apparent to ourselves and to others. We need to say the Shema twice a day because it serves a critical spiritual function. It affirms our belief in one God who cares about, and is always involved in, the details of our personal lives. It also shows that we accept religious responsibilities. Yet there is also more to the Shema than this. We will plumb its depths by first exploring the basic philosophical concepts that underlie it. Reprinted with permission from 'THE HIDDEN BEAUTY OF THE SHEMA' by Dr. Lisa Aiken. Published by: Targum Press, Inc. http://www.targum.com Shema - The Rabbis of the Talmud considered the belief in one God basic to Judaism and therefore legislated that all Jews recite the Shema prayer twice each day, evening and morning as follows: Hear, O Israel; the Lord our God, the Lord is One. Blessed be His name, whose glorious kingdom is for ever and ever. 'And you should love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all your soul, and with all your resources. And these words that I command you today should be on your heart. And you should teach them to your children, and speak of them when you sit in your house, and when you go on the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up. And you should bind them as a sign on your hand, and they should be tefillin between your eyes. And write them on the door posts of your house and in your gates.' And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love the lord your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, that I will give the rain of your land in its season, the former rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil. And iI will give grass in thy field for thy cattle, and thou shalt eat and be satisfied. Take heed to yourselves lest your heart be deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them; and the anger of the Lord be kindled against you and he shut up the heaven, that there be no rain, and that the land yield not her fruit; and ye perish quickly from off the good land which the Lord giveth you. Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul; and ye shall bind them for a sign upon your hand, and they shall be for frontlets between your eyes. And ye shall teach them your children, talking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt write them upon the door posts of thine house, and upon thy gates; that your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children upon the land which the Lord swear unto your fathers to give them, as the days of the heavens above the earth. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and bid them that they make them a fringe upon the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and that they put upon the fringe of each corner a cord of blue; and it shall be unto you for a fringe, that ye may look upon it, and remember all the commandments of the Lord, and do them; and that ye go not about after your own heart and your own eyes, after which ye use to go astray; that ye may remember and do all my commandments, and be holy unto your God. I am the Lord you God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be your God; I am the Lord your God. True and trustworthy is all this, and it is established with us that he is the Lord our God, and there is none beside him, and that we, Israel, are his people. - back to where I came from- Amidah - The Amidah, shmoneh-esreh standing, eighteen, principal synagogue prayer. The Lord's Prayer spoken by Jesus (Matthew 6:9-13) was simply a short version of daily amidah prayed by every Jew and has definite reflections of such common prayers as the Kaddish sanctifying God. - back to where I came from- Rev. Helmut Loeffler - VP & Executive Director International Christian Embassy Jerusalem Philippines Foundation P.O.Box AC 754 CUBAO 1109 Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines Phone: 63-2-671-0062 Fax: 63-2-671-0063 director@icej.org.ph Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem....Psalm 122:6 | ||
| Click Here to read more Chaplain's Corner | ||
  HELPING HANDS
Cmdr. Linda Widener, CMO |
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| Depression: Are You One of the 17 Million? |
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It's the public health crisis you're not hearing about: Every year over 17 million Americans suffer from clinical depression. That's more Americans per year than are stricken by cancer, AIDS or coronary heart disease. Approximately 15 percent of chronic cases result in suicide, and sadly, many people don't know that depression is a disease that can be treated. Could you recognize the signs of depression in yourself or a loved one? Find out more about the symptoms and treatment of depression.
The following is a list of symptoms found in people suffering from Major Depression. Remember that everyone will experience some of these symptoms from time to time. But if you experience them almost every day for most of the day, you may be suffering from depression. Keep track of how many you are experiencing.
What Do My Answers Mean? Doctors or other health-care professionals will diagnose you with depression or a Major Depressive Episode if you have five or more of the above symptoms during the same two-week period (or longer). One of the symptoms must be either depressed mood or loss of interest or pleasure for this diagnosis to be made. In addition, the symptoms you are experiencing must be causing you distress or interfering with your life-social, work, or other important areas of your life-for the diagnosis of Major Depression to be made. If you are depressed you might be experiencing other symptoms as well. These may include: Anxiety and worrying Tearfulness or frequent crying Feeling irritable Decreased interest in sex or decreased sexual pleasure Physical symptoms that don't get better with treatment, such as headaches, chronic pain, constipation, nausea, or other symptoms Feeling helpless and without hope Low self-esteem Not everyone who is depressed has all the symptoms listed above, however. Symptoms differ from person to person. Even if the same person experiences depression more than once, their symptoms may not be the same each time. If you feel that you may be suffering from depression it's very important for you to see your doctor or other qualified health-care professional. Don't be embarrassed or ashamed. Being depressed does not mean you're weak. It means you have a medical illness that needs to be treated. And depression is very treatable. Make sure you get the help you need. |
 
PROJECT GENESISCmdr. Tamara Borchardt, Chairperson |
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From: Earth Day Mom earthday@earthdayspirit.org The purpose of Earth Day is to increase awareness, responsibility and action toward a clean, healthy future for all living things using events, campaigns and networking as catalysts. To submit Earth Day-related items or to join a moderated email list of announcements and reports on projects and ideas for using Earth Day as a catalyst for change, send requests to earthday@earthdayspirit.org WASHINGTON, DC, January 5, 2000 (ENS) - Actor Leonardo DiCaprio will serve as chairman for 'EarthFair 2000' to be held on the Mall in Washington, D.C. on April 22, 2000. "As far back as I can remember, personally, environmental issues have always been of the utmost importance to me," says DiCaprio. "I think it's a great way for all of us seriously to focus on what I feel is an environmental emergency that we face in the millennium." Hosted by the Earth Day Network, EarthFair 2000 will include hundreds of presentations depicting the elements of a sustainable society, including exhibits powered by solar, wind, earth, water and people. The first Earth Day was held in 1970, and has grown to involve thousands of communities around the world in a wide range of events. A solar-powered stage will feature entertainment and top musical acts from the U.S. and abroad. Energy technology pavilions will feature hands on activities and offer opportunities for direct action. The event organizers will recycle trash from the event, use only renewable energies, and demonstrate ways to hold a sustainable event. More than half a billion people around the world are expected to participate in Earth Day 2000 festivities, with large events planned in London, New York, Tokyo, Los Angeles, Seoul, Chicago, Beijing, Atlanta, Tel Aviv, Boston, Manila and San Diego. More than three thousand organizations from 167 countries have already announced plans for events. Exhibitors, sponsors and volunteers: To participate in EarthFair 2000 in Washington D.C. contact: karigray@earthlink.net Carolyn Chase, Earth Day Network, San Diego: http://www.earthdayweb.org Earth Day Worldwide Directory - Register and search for groups and events http://www.earthday.net/dir/group.asp Earth Day 2000 Clean Energy Now! Campaign: http://www.earthday.net PO Box 9827 San Diego California, 92169 U.S.A (619) 272-7370; FAX: (619) 272-2933; email: earthday@earthdayspirit.org |
| FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT PROJECT GENESIS - CLICK HERE |
