Update Jan 5, 2021, 8:03 am CST: Thanks to Katherine for providing this URL which gathers together all of Tom's NewGathering posts.
Update Jan 4, 2021, 9:19 am CST: Many thanks to Rita for pointing us in the comments below to this photo of Tom, which I've taken the liberty of snipping out of a group photo. I am glad that he happened to be standing near a typewriter and a clock, two implements which I am given to understand loomed large in the life of a newspaper reporter of that era.
Further thanks to Rita for locating Tom's obituary: https://www.tillmanfuneralhome.com/obituary/tom-blackburn I am not certain how long the funeral home companies keep this content available online, so in some further liberty-taking, I am going to copy and paste it at the bottom of the post, below the break.
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Gene Palumbo called me today to give me a heads-up that Jim McCrea had sent out the following announcement on his email list, under the headline "Tom Blackburn 1934-2021, RIP":
Our apologies if this is the first you are hearing of Tom's passing. He expired shortly after midnight on Saturday, January 2, 2021 due to complications from Covid-19. We are told he died peacefully and without pain. We cannot guarantee a response to email to this address. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers.
A few minutes ago, I received the same message directly from Tom's email address. I assume a family member is notifying people with whom Tom corresponded. I've asked for a link to an obituary; if one is forthcoming, I'll share the URL.
I never had the pleasure of meeting Tom in person. I'm kicking myself now for not having worked harder to make an opportunity for it. I never knew him until our paths crossed in the old dotCommonweal blog forum. Over the years, he became a friend, and more than a friend: a sort of uncle, or older brother, or something similar. The opportunities I gave him for correction were legion, and he always managed to do it with a sense of humor with Christian love underlying it.
I expect some of you have known him far longer than I have, and perhaps were closer friends with him as well. Please share thoughts, prayers and memories in the comments.
Here is Tom's obituary:
Thomas Edward Blackburn — better known to most long-time readers of the Palm Beach Post as retired columnist and editorial writer Tom Blackburn — stopped breathing just after midnight on January 2, 2021.
Saint Peter no doubt awoke as Tom knocked on the pearly gates, his baritone voice barking out something maybe resembling Gloria in excelsis Deo (if we’re being generous). Perhaps you dreamed you were hearing the angels singing a bit off key in the wee hours of the morning on January 2nd? Now you know the cause of the cacophony.
The man who put the liberal in “the liberal news media” re-read the prison writings of Father Alfred Delp just before he passed, having been reminded of those writings by Joe Biden’s Christmas address on December 22, 2020. Tom revisited those meditations because breathing was a common theme throughout Fr. Delp’s writing. You see, because of the utter indescribable incompetence of certain political leaders, an 86 year-old who only ever left the house (masked) to grocery shop during senior hours, visit doctors, and to get books from the library (because there was no room left in the house to store more books) — somehow nevertheless contracted Covid-19.
He wouldn’t recommend it.
Fr. Delp was imprisoned by the Nazis in 1944 for daring to envision a Christian community rising up after the demise of Nazism in a time when even thinking about the defeat of Nazism was a crime. The Jesuit Priest had metaphorical trouble breathing because the walls seemed to close in on him as he awaited his execution.
For Tom, his lungs literally closed in on him as he fought Covid-19, and then double pneumonia. Tom left a bookmark in page 60-61 of The Prison Meditations of Father Delp, at the passage reading, “To breathe again. To be honest I too long to be able to breathe again, to be relieved of my troubles.” While Tom’s corporal existence increasingly had difficulty breathing, his soul, liberated from his body, took its first deep breath.
Tom grew up in Evanston, IL, a fan of the Cubs and World War II airplanes. His passion for history, philosophy, poetry, music, live theater, bird watching and reading about all of those things and learning about everything stayed with him until the very end.
Perhaps in death, he will finally find perfect pitch. And, like Biden explained, “Delp believed, at first, we are shaken to our depths, and then we're ready for a season of hope.” May we all soon find the peace and serenity Tom now has and turn to a new season of hope.
He is survived by his wife of 64 years, Marilyn, his children Lise (n/k/a Sister Elizabeth Ann), Christopher (& Sally), Monica (& Glenn Aust), Michael (& Esther Aronson), Stephen (& Audrey Cho); his grandchildren Michele (& Nate Mammarella),, Elliott, Erika, Caroline (& Monte Driscoll), Katie, Emily, Jennifer, Aron; and his great-grand children Addisyn, Peyton, Carter, Essie, and Cohan.
An intimate yet socially-distanced visitation will be held and live-streamed from the Tillman Funeral Home, 2170 S Military Trail, West Palm Beach, FL 33415 from 10 a.m. to 12 noon, followed by a 12:30 pm funeral mass at Holy Name of Jesus Church on Tuesday, January 5, 2021. In lieu of flowers, please consider making a donation in his name to either his alma mater, Marquette University, P.O. Box 1881, Milwaukee, WI 53201 or the St. Lawrence Seminary, 301 Church Street, Mt. Calvary, WI 53057.
Thanks for setting up the post, Jim.
ReplyDeleteTom's death makes me think more about the connections I have with people here, in my virtual book and movie clubs. I'm not sure "friends" is the right word for individuals I know online only, but those connections have probably been more important to all of us in this year of isolation and upheaval.
Tom's comments about my Church Ladies over the years often gave me the confidence to maintain my connection with the Catholicism and to be less worried about the opinions of the self-appointed defenders of the faith. I always enjoyed his newspaper stories. We shared an uneasy appreciation for H.L. Mencken. Tom once mentioned working at the Baltimore Sun and walking past Mencken's picture and this quote every day: "As I look back over a misspent life, I find myself more and more convinced that I had more fun doing news reporting than in any other enterprise. It really is the life of kings."
And here's another Mencken quote Tom would have liked and found timely: "The men the American people admire most extravagantly are the most daring liars; the men they detest most violently are those who try to tell them the truth."
I truly hope that this is a place where Tom felt respected and in good company. He certainly made me feel that way.
I considered Tom a friend, even though I never met him in person. He came across as a kind and gracious person, who took his Christian faith seriously. He also had a sense of humor and wrote in an interesting way. My favorite story of his was when he told how he met his wife. It was something like, "It was a dark and stormy night. I was fleeing arrest..."
ReplyDeleteAnd speaking of that, we need to remember to pray for Marilyn too. I'm sure she is having a hard time.
Yes. I'm afraid what extra hardships the COVID protocols might have caused his wife and family. I hope someone was with him.
DeleteI wanted to add my voice here in honor of Tom Blackburn. I was so sad to hear news of his death. Tom was a gem. His wit and common sense and humor cut to the heart of many a discussion, punctured pretensions, and always provoked enjoyment. He was a good man.
ReplyDeleteHaving never met him in person, I went looking for a photograph of him. I found one in the Columbia Journalism Review, from his salad days at NCR. You can see it here. He's on the left. https://archives.cjr.org/second_read/in_the_name_of_the_father.php
Rest in peace, Tom, and may you rise in glory.
A wonderful photo, capturing a high moment in the U.S. Catholic Church...the founding of an independent Catholic newspaper. Bob Hoyt at the forefront of the group was someone I knew well and who worked with me later at Commonweal.
DeleteI didn't know Tom Blackburn back then, but on this blog I became "acquainted." In his eye for detail and penchant for getting things right, I recognized by friend Bob Hoyt's hard editorial hand. I can't find now, but would love to re-post a Tom description of the history and sociology of West Palm Beach, the town abutting MaraLago, and the built in limits to its citizens' ability to resist the corona virus--thanks to the Palm Beach inhabitants that saw their fellow citizens in WPB as servants. Tom could write, could tell a story, accurately, and get to the point in short order.
The saints go marching on!
I don't know if this is the one you mean, Margaret: https://newgathering.blogspot.com/2017/03/the-high-price-of-presidency.html
DeleteI regret Tom did not live to follow up on the story. WPBeachians do not want Trump to live down there messing up the traffic. A group of residents are trying to block the move due to some loopholes in the original agreement with Mar-a-Lago that states it cannot be used as a residence.
Thank you Jean! (how are you?)...
Deleteyes, that is part of the WPB story that I recall. There was another (chapter 2?) in which in response to a query about a photo of WPB residents: why was there such a line of cars for a food bank? Tom kindly explained that though they had cars, citizens of WPB didn't have other things....no bus/train public transportation system to get them to the urban goods that go with taxing everyone for the social goods everyone must have to live.
I asked the question! Because I had the illusion that anyone who owned a car wouldn't need a food bank! I who walk five blocks to the West Side Market, full of everything...
Tom's full post on careful rereading covers not just the historic plight of WPB residents because of local laws and customs, but their current burden of helping to support, with local resources and taxes, the "free-rider presidency of Donald Trump."
DeleteI see the obituary is posted. It's wonderful. A must-read.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.tillmanfuneralhome.com/obituary/tom-blackburn
Thank you for the link, Rita. It is a tribute worthy of Tom.
ReplyDeleteI will really miss Tom's voice here. His wit, and his passion for so many things, especially for his church. He often got very frustrated with me, the resident schismatic/heretic here, but he always came back with kindness and patience. He challenged me always, and, while not convincing me, I really did love the passion he had for the church.
I especially loved his wit, his sense of humor, so evident in his writing style. And I loved his passion for justice.
I do wonder how he got infected - it broke his heart to not be able to go to church in person, to stay home, to be so careful. But he was exposed somewhere in spite of all the care he took.
It makes me so angry that so many political leaders encouraged, and continue to encourage, those who would go about unmasked, refusing to keep a decent distance from others, causing so many premature deaths to so many good people.
Yes, thank you, Rita. That was a wonderful obituary.
DeleteAnne, it makes me angry too that so many people have died because our leaders refused to deal with the crisis in a responsible way.
You are right about Tom's wit and humor, and especially about his passion for justice.
wonderful obituary!
ReplyDeleteWonderful obituary for a wonderful guy. Why wear masks? To keep guys like Tom around as long as possible. How do you replace a guy like that?
ReplyDeleteWe are struggling with the fact that we both interacted with Tom a lot and also that we did not know him personally as well as others might. Let me try to bring a little sociological insight on our situation.
ReplyDeleteSociologists distinguish between primary groups and secondary groups.
In a primary group such as the family we know someone through multiple roles, not only those within the family (spouse, parent-child, sibling) but outside the family (work, church, hobbies, etc.)
In a secondary group such as the work environment or church environment we know someone mainly through their performance of one role or dimension of their lives.
We are essentially a “Commonweal group” since we carry on a conversation about the “political, cultural and religious” aspects of life that has constituted Commonweal’s mission. We have done this now since March 9, 2017, almost four years at the rate of about one post a day. Each post has an average of at least a dozen comments, often resulting in conversation of from 20 to 40 comments. The views of the post range typically range from 50 to more than a hundred. We are a small but very diverse group spread across the country, disciplinary and professional backgrounds, as well as life experiences.
We know that Tom had another important group in his life, the men’s group of his parish. Parishes market themselves as communities, i.e. primary groups. Certainly these men knew something of their own family lives, and maybe something of their member’s participation in the life the parish and civic community. Yet typically they don’t really know much about their member’s professional lives. I doubt whether they provided for Tom much of the experience he had here on our blog.
At the end of the first year of the Cleveland Commonweal local community, an important participant died of cancer. He was a retired teacher. It became evident to us how important we were to him through the reactions of his family. The Mass was held at the high school academy where he had taught for decades. I was surprised when the family and chaplain invited us to participate in the service by doing a reading or speaking some words about Wayne. Instead I offered to lead Evening Prayer for the Dead at the wake since Wayne like several of us prayed the Divine Office. That offer was accepted by both the Chaplain and family and went well. For both Wayne’s family and his former institution our Commonweal Community was a sign of Wayne’s continued participation in his life- long professional interests even up until the last days of his life, and therefore an important part of the celebration of his life.
Jack, thanks - that distinction between primary and secondary is helpful.
DeleteI am not certain what to think about a "virtual community". On the one hand, it seems that embodied interaction - being in another person's physical presence - would be an important part of a relationship. Not least because our bodies reveal much about us, intentionally or not - body language, facial expressions, etc.
On the other hand, there are ways we are able to share and reveal ourselves more fully in a virtual environment: we are able to share entire paragraphs of our our thoughts, beliefs, hopes, fears, histories and so on. People who read this blog almost assuredly know more about me than, say, my fellow parishioners who see me every week but whose personal interaction with me is, at best, a few minutes at a time.
This might be an interesting discussion down the road. I think the etiquette of managing virtual interactions is still evolving. I thought fleetingly about suggesting a Zoom here, but I kept thinking of Groucho's famous correspondence with TS Eliot. When the two met in person, they had nothing to say to each other. When you can just put thoughts in writing without worrying about the visual impression you make, sometimes, as Jim notes, you feel less fettered. I think the age, class, and economic differences among us would dampen free exchange of ideas.
DeleteJim,
DeleteA very good articulation of the pro's and con's of primary and secondary groups, e.g. I am sure that some people who interact with us a lot in secondary groups (e.g. work, sports) get to know some aspects of us that even primary group members do not experience.
Correspondence may have once served a lot of the functions that now occur in blogs like this. Think of the extensive correspondence that Merton and others engaged in.
I noticed the obituary provides a place for signing the guestbook. Which I did. My work went into moderation, and has now been accepted and posted. Once you sign the guestbook you also get to see the other people, who to this point are mostly from West Palm Beach. You are asked to give your e-mail however it does not appear to be published, but I suspect will be available to family members. I would encourage you to sign the guestbook
ReplyDeleteThe following is what I said:
Tom was a most valued member of our virtual “Commonweal Community” which has been discussing political, cultural and religious issues since March, 2017. We average about a post a day with a conversation of at least a dozen comments, often lasting for 20 to 40 comments with some 50 to a hundred views. We are a small but very diverse group spread across the country, disciplinary and professional backgrounds, as well as life experience. Tom’s active participation will be sorely missed. His family members have our prayers, and our appreciation for his contributions to our lives. I am a social psychologist who spent his life working in research, planning and evaluation in the public mental health system. My retirement interests have focused on spirituality and voluntarism.
Jack Rakosky,
I think your message to the guestbook speaks for all of us, Jack. As funerals are necessarily limited these days, I'm sure it is especially comforting for the family to hear from those whose lives Tom touched. It might be nice, if someone else is going to sign the guestbook, to include the URL link so that his family has access to his posts here.
DeleteThis is the URL link to Tom's posts:
Deletehttps://www.blogger.com/blog/posts/1315362208709650810?q=author%3A"tom%20blackburn"
I will try to share that to the guest book.
I just signed the guest book and included the URL. I checked the "keep message private" option in case so that his family could decide if they want to share his posts more generally.
DeleteKatherine, good idea! Glad you thought of that angle.
DeleteUrl does not work for me, fyi.
DeleteJean, try the link Jim added as an update at the top of his post.
DeleteI tried both.
DeleteBoth are still working on my computer and tablet. I don't know what to tell you, maybe someone else could post a link?
DeleteYeah, sorry, just tried on tablet and PC, and just keep getting a page that says "no posts." If others are not having a problem, it's probably my settings or something.
DeleteIs anyone else having the issue that Jean is having with the URL for Tom's posts?
DeleteJean, the link is working for me. I use a Chrome browser on a Wintel notebook computer.
Also using Chrome. If everyone else is seeing this, please don't worry about it.
DeleteI can't see it either. It says 38 posts and then, in a Zen-like manner, "there are no posts."
DeleteI can tell you the path I took to get to Tom's posts (or anyone else's). At the top of the blog, on the left next to the search bar is the letter B in an orange square. Click on that and you will see a listing of people's posts starting with most recent. Find one of Tom's, I think the latest was Nov 26. Click on his name, which is to the right of the title of the post. That should bring up a list of all his posts.
DeleteAnother tip, if you just want to read the post, click on the title. If you also want to read the comments, tap on the white area somewhere, and an icon that looks like an eye will show up, to the right. Tap or click on that, and both the post and it's comments will appear.
DeleteAh! Thanks, Katherine. It only works if you are a co-admin (have posting abilities) here. So Tom's family would not be able to see the posts in yr link. I can use the search bar and type in Tom's name and get some of his posts that way.
DeleteI didn't realize that you had to have posting abilities to see the lists of posts. Well there goes that idea.
DeleteJack Rakosky: on primary and secondary groups.
ReplyDeleteYes, most (all) of us only knew Tom as part of a secondary group. And yet, the tool at hand (this blog) makes even being a secondary group ambiguous in that these are group conversations without a gate keeper,i.e., we can participate or not and write as we see fit. Personal, direct inter-action is random and probably rare (or so I think).
Yet....we have enough in common to be able to carry on, some like Tom are acquainted with the discourse of more or less grousing Catholics (even some beyond grousing). He was knowledgeable and adept at both informing and amusing us.
As I mentioned (above) on Rita's find of an early NCR staff photo, I saw and understood what Tom was about because of having known and worked with Bob Hoyt way back, way back, 1960s and then again in the '90s. They were a generation 10-20 years ahead of mine and I was always intrigued that Bob (and presumably Tom) were acquainted with Thomas Aquinas's views and modes of arguing. This was perhaps because both had been in seminaries and had Catholic college educations.
The founding of the NCR was a big deal...Catholic lay people (men) publishing an independent newspaper were taking on what had been the province of bishops. Editing, reporting, sustaining such an effort was something new, especially when they did report the news...Vatican II was going on...and the NCR rose to the occasion as it did when HVitae was delivered in 1968.
And yet, for all of that, Bob and, I would think, Tom were steeped in a Catholic culture that was lively, intact, coherent, and ready to argue the case. That generation is mostly gone; Bob died in 2002. Tom's mode of proceeding reminded me of all of that. His death reminds me of how much we have lost...
The Commonweal Local Community here in Cleveland was not that different from this virtual community. A similar group of diverse people discussing similar topics. . People decided for themselves whether or not they would attend the meetings which consisted of being together for about 90-120 minutes once a month. Travel distance and schedules made it difficult for many to attend regularly. Group members did not end up socializing much outside the meeting except for three members who happened to belong to the same parish (and did not know each other before they joined the group). They ended up sometimes going to breakfast after Mass.
DeleteBecause this group puts in a lot more time we have come to know each other much better than the members of the Cleveland CLC. The Cleveland group like this group tended to do a lot of research; people came to the meetings well prepared. However I think the group would have been much better if we had shared our preparation virtually and got to read the same things before the meeting and have follow-up conversations virtually after the meeting.
So I think a hybrid group meeting once a month with virtual conversations between would be the best of worlds.
The funeral Mass will be held at Holy Name of Jesus Catholic church.
ReplyDeleteThis is the link for the parish website. https://www.myhnj.org/
They do have livestreaming which I assume they will use for the Tuesday Funeral at 12:30 pm
Thanks,Jack. At 0930 tomorrow, I'll be attending Mass for my friend Judy's intention with her family and hopefully some dancer friends will show. I will try to livestream Tom's mass later.
DeleteWhen our Cleveland Community member was waked, my friend Betty and I led Evening Prayer from the Office of the Dead because Wayne had prayed the Office regularly. I remember that Tom was very appreciative when I posted some links to the European Benedictine community that still chants the office in Latin.
ReplyDeleteBetty and I did not attempt to sing the office, rather we printed the office on a single sheet of paper, alternating between Bold and Regular type. The family and friends were all seated with the casket in front. Betty and I took chairs facing each other so that we, the casket and the people formed a square. We alternated between men and women. Betty and I both have good reciting voices so it worked very well. An amazing high proportion of the people joined it.
I looked on YouTube and found that a priest has done Evening Prayer in English in Gregorian Chant with all the text and notion there on YouTube. He uses the Saint Meinrad psalms tones which Betty and I are used to singing and like very much.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OejIufaxiSk
He also has a booklet with all the same material
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ArULmKkUK6l_ZL6CPCp23mk0nZLWcios/view
Betty and I will be celebrating Evening Prayer for Tom this evening at 9pm Eastern (8pm Central, 6pm West Coast). While you might want to do it at the same time, I would suggest that you might want to share Evening Prayer for Tom with some of your family and friends at what time is most convenient.
I've been the lucky one. Twice lucky, really.
ReplyDeleteWe (those of us who participate in this blog) speak about wishing we had the chance to meet in person. I've had that chance twice. The first time was with Jim Pauwels. My wife, Guadalupe, had been invited to give at a talk at Creighton University, and on our way there from El Salvador, we had to change planes in Chicago. I had "met" Jim through dotCommonweal, and we'd been in touch offline, but we had never met in person. Our layover wasn't long enough to allow us to leave the airport, so I asked Jim if there was any chance that we could meet there. As we emerged from immigration, after having our passports checked, there was Jim, waiting for us. It was a lovely visit.
Maybe I knew a good thing when I'd seen it, experienced it, so I later sought another airport visit -- this one with Tom. We, too, had "met" via email, so when, on a later occasion, I was going to change flights in Miami on my way back to El Salvador, I wrote to him: "Any chance you could. . .?" It was a long drive from West Palm Beach, and he was well into his 80s by then, but he did it, and we hunkered down in an airport coffee shop for a long and -- you won't be surprised to hear -- wonderful conversation. Really, he was all the things we've been saying about him here -- warm, smart, eloquent, funny, incisive. . . I could go on. I was so grateful for that visit, and feel that even more so now.
In fact, I felt I wanted more, as I wrote to him later in response to remarks of his about what was happening in his "neighborhood" during the pandemic. I had sent him a piece about a large corporation that was relocating to Florida, where there's no individual income tax, estate tax or capital gains tax. Tom wrote back that the corporation was "far from the first" to "discover this state will never bother them. . . The sleaze always oozes toward the bottom. When we hang down here like an appendix, we catch it all. . ." He concluded, "I am so glad to have so little time left."
I wrote back, "To tell you the truth, it made me sad to read that." I cited "my selfish desire for 4 or 5 more Miami airport rendezvous," and added, "I find myself persuaded by the 'hope against hope' way of seeing things."
Tom replied, "My comment was a statement of fact, not despair. I turned 86 on Wednesday. This is a guy who smoked for 50 years. I always figured I’d have to top out before 70. The aches and pains of age are upon us, and yesterday I did something to my left knee stepping off a curb. I hopped around and waved my arms, and finally grabbed onto a truck. I worked my way around that until I could lunge into my car. If I had fallen onto the pavement, I couldn’t have gotten up without help. It’s always something these days. But I rise every morning and praise the Lord.
"Our country, though, is in for a dark and evil time. Mark Shields, on the PBS Newshour last night, raised the possibility that Biden could be elected, but the Rs could continue to hold the Senate. In that case, Sen. McConnell just might decide that Biden didn’t deserve a Cabinet and refuse to confirm anybody. As they said when they were ramming Amy Coney “I'm no puppet” Barrett through Trump’s pre-election puppet show, they have the power. Lots of other evil possibilities hang like dark clouds over the horizon. In my old age, I’m reduced to the role of sitting on my porch pounding my cane while others have to do the work. That’s all. Tom."
He knows now, if he didn't then, that for us his words, his example, were so much more than those of an old man sitting on the porch and pounding his cane.
We'll miss him greatly. R.I.P.
Gene, thanks for those anecdotes about Tom. He was an older guy, and had had some health problems, but his writing and his personality on the blog always were so vigorous, and he was always so plugged into what was happening in the world, that it was hard to remember that he was somewhere in his 80s and probably had some of the same sorts of frailties I see in my parents now (same age).
DeleteI see he was despairing about the future of our country. He may be smiling from heaven about the Georgia results tomorrow, if they go as I expect.
Tomorrow morning the wake will be from 10-12 livestreamed from the funeral home. I suspect it will be something like the priest/deacon assembles with family members around 10 and then again right before noon. I doubt they will be celebrating Morning Prayer
ReplyDeleteSo Betty and I plan to celebrate Morning Prayer for Tom at 11 am.
Here is the same priest during Morning Prayer on YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3sArmC0lok&t=1s
Here is the worship aid if you would like it separately.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uoUyAVA-eViaIonFFIvvRwA-UDt65uQP/view
Doing this will be especially meaningful for me since my mother died around 1am on January 5th more than twenty years ago.
I hope all this will be as helpful to some of you as it will be to Betty and myself.
Thanks for the URL link to Tom's posts. I am enjoying reading them.
ReplyDeleteThere's a beautiful slide show now available at the site where you find the obituary. We knew him through his words, but in pictures you see how dear he was to his family, and how extensive the family was.
ReplyDeleteJean: "I thought fleetingly about suggesting a Zoom here,"
ReplyDeleteMy hearing loss prevents me from participating in Zoom groups. One reason I like this group is because it is virtual and written- not Zoom. I have also found that I like the anonymity provided by this format i it allows some of us to say things we might not say in a group at a parish or other in-person group. I have never shared the extent of my doubts about Catholicism and even about Christianity with any other group even though I have participated in many small groups in previous years. I stopped doing that when the hearing loss accelerated. But I find I like the virtual format very well partly because I feel more free to be honest about both religion and politics. My family and friends world was always conservative Catholicism and conservative politics, so when I began to "fall away" from both, I learned very quickly not to say what I was really thinking. Finally I gave up and simply started doing a lot of reading. This group provides discussion that I had missed, and everyone here is pretty open minded. Including Tom, who was as old-school devout Catholic as anyone I've ever known. But he was also a social justice Catholic, which was a big plus as far as I was concerned. I haven't often found the combination of 1950s, Thomistic Catholicism and social justice Catholicism in the same person.
A lot of this has to do with how comfortable one is with a given technology. Most of us here have mastered the art and technology of the blog.
DeleteI haven't any experience of Zoom, and have not been eager to do it. For example I have never used any of the cameras that inhabit all my computers. So it would take a while to get used to it.
I don't use text messaging, nor do I use my mobile phone to keep in touch with people. I prefer communicating by slower methods such as e-mail and this blog. I don't like the idea of being instantly available to anyone who wants to talk.
I was intimidated by the thought of Zoom until our sons and families wanted to do a pre-Christmas Zoom. Our older son set up the link, and all we had to do was click on it at the agreed time. We don't have a camera on our computer, but I do on my Kindle Fire, and it worked fine. The children were much more natural and comfortable than they would have been on the phone, and it was fun to see them open the gifts we had sent.
DeleteHowever, that said, I still prefer phone or texting for most communication, and think the blog format is just fine for this group.
In the corporate world, Zoom and similar technologies (Webex, Microsoft Teams, GoToMeeting, et al) were heavily used even before the pandemic. The pandemic basically accelerated trends which already were well along: people using cameras, microphones and ear phones/earbuds to attend meetings, rather than having to meet in person. Meetings which used to require business travel now can be pulled together very quickly and without the expense, hassles and delays of travel. And business teams and departments no longer need to be physically "housed" in the same office building. My team is spread all over the country plus India; I also have, at previous times, had team members based in Latin America, Europe and the Asia Pacific. And none of my team members are closer to me than Texas or Florida; even if I had an office building to work in, there would be no practical reason for me to show up in the office each day, as I don't work with anyone in my local geographic area.
DeleteWe were talking above about embodied interaction. Zoom does away with the person-to-person proximity. And it's very efficient. It's not unusual for me to have a different meeting scheduled at every single half hour interval from early morning through mid or even late afternoon. I suspect the breadth and depth of the impact of the technology and work life and quality of life isn't fully understood yet.
Anne, I hope I made it clear in my comment that I was not in favor of Zoom for this group.
DeleteJim,
ReplyDeleteCould you imbed the link that Katherina has provided to all Tom's posts at the top of this post? That way it will be easier to locate in the future.
Good idea. I've added it at the top of the post.
DeleteTom's obituary confirms what he shared with us here: he isolated himself from public social intercourse as much as was feasible during the pandemic. He stayed more isolated than most people I know. He even stopped attending mass in person, which surely was a big sacrifice for him. And yet he contracted the virus.
ReplyDeleteMy mother and father, who are close to Tom's age, attend daily mass. As I mentioned here a few days ago, my mother contracted the virus. Fortunately, she has passed through the infection with almost no ill effects. If my father has it at all, he's completely asymptomatic. (We would like him to get himself tested - it's possible she contracted the virus from him - but he can be stubborn about things he doesn't want to do.)
I am more out and about than either of them - am at the parish every Saturday and Sunday for large blocks of time. Once a month or so, I work with homeless people, who surely receive substandard health care. I haven't been tested (except for an antibody test a few months ago), but I haven't shown any symptoms of infection, and my immediate family, all of whom are living in the same household with us at present, also are showing no signs of having been infected.
Why do some get by unscathed, some get infected but sail through it, and some get walloped? Why do some people interact with others with impunity and never get sick, while others who live nearly as hermits contract severe cases? I can't help but think there is much we still don't understand.
Without more autopsies, which beleaguered hospitals don't have time for right now, a lot of info about how the disease affects the body and how effective treatments are is yet to be uncovered. And if the vaccines provide lasting protection from the virus--jury is out on that--figuring out why the disease presents so differently in different people may be moot.
DeleteBack in October, my oncologist went on about inflammation response and COVID and what that seemed to be doing to cancer patients. I asked her if that was anything I could control, and she said no, so I tuned her out. I have info/speculation overload at this point.
Meantime: Wash hands, wear mask, limit trips, deal with mental health fallout, think of others, hope to get vaccine before COVID gets you.
My OR nurse friend just got his first shot. He got the Moderna. He could have gotten into the Moderna or Pfizer line but he didn't care. There is a difference in the timing of the second shot. I believe they're both mRNA based. He called me afterwards to say that, so far, no reaction.
DeleteActually, it was Tom who pointed out awhile back that most of us wouldn't have a choice in vaccines, and it turns out he was right.
DeleteMy county health department has ordered only Moderna because this is a rural area and they the deep-freeze issues with Pfizer vax would be difficult. It's unclear how they're going to distribute here. Health departments are swamped with testing and tracking activities, so the amount of time they can devote to inoculation plans may be limited. I think the idea is that they'll turn it over to Walgreen's and other chain pharmacies because hospitals and doctors don't have time to do this stuff.
If you don't have an anaphylactic response to the vaccine (most won't), it takes the antibody response takes 24-48 hours to kick in. That can may you feel kind of flu-y, but, if it's like the Shingrex vaccine, that goes away in a couple of days.
Glad your friend got the vax, Stanley!
DeleteThe mass is being livestreamed now at
ReplyDeletehttps://www.facebook.com/myhnj/
Thanks,Gene. It felt good to be there electronically.
DeleteThe mass was livestreamed via the parish's Facebook page. I hope it was recorded, and will be made available for viewing later; I think you'd want to see it -- to hear the words of one of Tom's sons at the beginning, and also the homily.
ReplyDeleteThere was a space on the Facebook page for comments. The family will see them, I assume, so I sent one on our behalf. It wasn't possible to consult all of you, to get your approval, so I hope you won't mind. This is what I sent: "On behalf of those who participate in the "New Gathering" blog (Tom was an active participant): we send our condolences and prayers, and express our thanks for all that Tom gave us."
I tried to tune in, but I think I didn't allow for the hour time difference. There was a Mass on, but it was a normal daily Mass. So maybe it will be available later.
DeleteGene, thank you for sending a message on our behalf. I was not able to attend, it's a work day for me.
DeleteGene, it was good to see your comment pop up. Thanks.
DeleteBetty and I were able to watch the Mass on the parish website as it was being offered.
DeleteIn checking the face book page, a few minutes ago, it was there. You just have to choose the correct one. Basically the only information is how many hours ago the Mass was started.
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ReplyDeleteGreat news! Making the most of my handy-dandy call-the-U.S.-for-free phone plan, I called the parish and was told that the video recording of the mass will be maintained on the parish facebook page:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.facebook.com/myhnj/
Simply scroll down till you find it. They also said that, for two weeks or so, it will be on vimeo, in case that's easier for you.
I found it. It was a beautiful service, very moving. A fitting farewell to Tom.
ReplyDeleteI just now found another obituary of Tom. It's in the Palm Beach Post. It's definitely worth readying.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.palmbeachpost.com/story/news/local/2021/01/05/tom-blackburn-palm-beach-post-editorial-writer-dies-after-bout-covid-19/4132893001/