Reliligion

[Peter Byrne Manchester <PMANCHESTER@ccmail.sunysb.edu>]

       A gentle snow began around 8pm this evening to settle Long Island into 
this lovely night.  Paula and I were decorating the tree in a leisurely, 
unfocused sort of way, me wandering off now to stir the brown sauce for 
tomorrow's dinner, now to wrestle a monster 14" round into the fireplace, 
with champion Christmas music provided by Enya ("Shepherd's Moon"), Cocteau 
Twins ("Four Calendar Cafe"), Happy Rhodes ("Warpaint"), and of course Kate's 
totally wonderful, wanton perpetration, "Home for Christmas" (..."stormy 
weather...be together..."; Go For It, Kate!!).  A joyful Saturday Within the 
Octave of Solstice, Saturnalia, and Christmas (as applicable) to every love-
hound, especially the new friends I made last summer.

       Thanks also to those whose synergy this week gave me at least a 
welcome lift of the spirits reading the newsgroup:  To Jorn (jorn@MCS.COM) 
for a thoughtful and positive post Tuesday, and an illustrated followup 
yesterday that I quite enjoyed (the portrait looked best to me with a 20x10 
8514oem font supported by my VGA card).  (Though perhaps a bit too 
homiletical, and thematically a stretch for the defining interests of this 
group--especially at such length--I for one welcomed learning something 
positive about where you're coming from, Jorn.  I agree on some things, 
disagree on others, but that's not a thread for here).  To kirke 
(smc@gandalf.rutgers.edu) for posting the handsomely formatted outline of the 
Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram by Rodrigo Ferres; and to Robert 
Henderson (robh@cyberspace.org) for his version--above all for his clear and 
straightforward exposition of its relevance to Kate's song "Lily" <one 'l'; I 
looked it up>.

       I was especially grateful to |>oug <nessus@mit.edu> for his empirical 
reminders of what we know about how Kate expresses herself on these matters, 
and again to kirke, for a rejoinder to Chris today that was direct and plain-
spoken (and necessary, Chris, at least from my observation) and at the same 
time a model of respectful disagreement.

       It's December 25 all the way to Denver now, so I had better get some 
sleep.  What have 51 of these taught me?  If they're quiet at heart, red and 
green can live together.  Peace upon us all.

............................................................................
       "C'mon people,                                       Peter Manchester
       Let's get together                      pmanchester@ccmail.sunysb.edu
       Right now."  <Jefferson Airplane>            72020.366@compuserve.com