RED DOG DIRT, A Stage Play set in Uniontown, Pennsylvania

YOUR TIME MACHINE TO SOUTHWESTERN PA.

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It’s not just a play.

It’s a time-machine. "Your" time travel.  Your imagination.  It’s a place in your memory -- a place in your heart.  A place in Southwestern Pennsylvania.

Or anywhere else you happen to remember.

But it is also a play.  RED DOG DIRT, the play, is set in Uniontown, Pennsylvania. -- which could easily be in Thessalonica, Greece . . . or Lincoln, Nebraska. . . or Alamosa, Colorado.  Because childhood experiences are universal.

THE "WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA PLACE" IN YOUR MEMORY

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It takes you back to wherever you started out -- and points to wherever you are going.

And yet, the setting for these memories is Uniontown in the 1950's, forty miles south of Pittsburgh on the western slope of Laurel Highlands near the Monongahela River.  Main Street, Eggleston Street, Gallatin Avenue, Dixon Boulevard.  Hopwood, Fairchance, Smock, Leckrone -- nearby.

The play’s action dramatizes a bunch of boys growing up: going to school; playing baseball; roaming the creeks and woods; exploring dead coke ovens; building clubhouses; confronting bullies, figuring out life and romance sitting up in sycamore trees; launching rockets and sassafras tea parties; drinking soda pop at the local mom and pop store; eating penny candy; looking for the "valuable striped gumball" out of the bubblegum machine; learning friendship; arguing the rules of the game.

The characters.  They are fictional, but based around real people in Uniontown, Pennsylvania.  Guts Gillen, Lunchtime Steele, Tom-the-Bomb Steele, Richie "Catechism" Meyer, Worfty Worft.  And there girls: Patsy Scheggia, Courtney Courter, Martha Newcomer and more.

THE END OF CHILDHOOD

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RED DOG DIRT is also about the end of the golden age of childhood -- which goes up in smoke -- when the new world of adolescence begins its challenge.  And that is the topic of conversation onstage between a grown man -- once a boy -- and his grandmother’s ghost as they rendez-vous at the “Meeting Place of the Living and the Dead.”  Where does life go from here?  That is the question.

RED DOG DIRT has been performed onstage in locations around the Washington DC and Baltimore area.  


The stage play has not yet gotten a full performance in Southwestern Pennsylvania.  Not that there is no interest.  We have received many requests from the Pittsburgh region and around the United States from people wanting to see RED DOG DIRT performed onstage in southwestern Pennsylvania.  


At the end of this post you can see comments from around the country. You may also see at "Bay Weekly" a review of the play's Maryland performances.

HELP US STAGE THE STORY TO ACTIVATE YOUR MEMORY

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We need your help. New plays are hard to stage.  Your voice, your vote, can help us convince performance stages to put the play on in South- western Penn -sylvania.  Add your voice by making a comment below, or by sending an email to: russ@bonmeasure.org.  Not only will your “vote” help bring RED DOG DIRT to the region, it will also get you 50% off tickets for two when the play is staged.  

In your correspondence, please include your name, email address, and location -- along with your brief comment about your memories of Southwestern Pennsylvania.  We do not give out your name and contact information without out your permission.  However, if you wish, we will send selected memories anonymously to theaters for the purpose of advertising and staging RED DOG DIRT.  We thank you for your help and direction.

Suggestions for auditoriums or theaters for performance are more than welcome.

Again send your comments via this post or to Russ Barnes.

SAMPLE COMMENT

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“Just saying 'Red Dog Dirt' brings back a flood of memories. Being born and raised in Uniontown,as was my Father and his Father, it was not uncommon when giving someone directions to tell them to turn on the red dog road. I don't think there is another place in the world that uses the expression 'red dog.' I wish you the best in your efforts and feel certain that you are bringing a lot of joy to many.”
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Other Southwestern Pennsylvania links you may be interested in:

Pittsburgh PA - http://www.facebook.com/#!/PittsburghPA?ref=ts

Uniontown PA - http://www.facebook.com/#!/Uniontown?ref=ts

Ohiopyle -   http://www.facebook.com/#!/Ohiopyle?ref=ts

www.uniontownonline.com - Find Events, Real Estate, Restaurants, Photos and More!

www.DiscoverOhiopyle.com - Discover Ohiopyle PA

www.FayettePort.com - The Social Networking Site for Fayette County PA

www.LiveandVisit.com/FayetteCountyPA.html  - Read the Live and Visit Fayette County PA Online Magazine here !

www.RonLovelace.com - Realtor Specializing in Mountain Property and Luxury Homes

www.FayCoHomes.com - Find homes for sale in Fayette County PA

www.SWPALuxuryHomes.com - Real Estate in SW PA + links to Luxury products and Services

www.PAVacationHomes.com - Find Vacation places to stay and real estate for sale in Pennsylvania

www.homes15401.com - find homes in Uniontown PA for sale

www.ohiopylevacationrentals.com - find vacation rentals in and around ohiopyle pa

HUNTING GUIDES: HOW TO FIND THE RIGHT ONE ON A TEXAS RANCH

WHITETAIL DEER -- MANAGEMENT BUCK, EXOTICS, HOG, TURKEY; part 2
By (c) Russ Barnes

AC RANCHES near SONORA, Texas. 2010.  The owner of AC Hunting Ranches told me, “When you come to the ranch, you really become yourself.  You get younger every day.  It takes about two days.  This place is the love of my life.”

BECOMING YOURSELF

Your experience of being here may also become one of your loves.  As a hunter, or nature observer, you confront the wild here.  You meet yourself.  You seek something exceptional inside yourself -- the wild part -- in the near-desert minimalism of this West Texas, hill-country ranch.

A GUIDE

You are not completely on your own in seeking whitetail deer or management buck, exotics, hog, turkey. As you may be seeking a high- or low-fence ranch experience, these aspirations may be why you come here to hunt, but you get something more, something else.

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[NOTE: Discounts, Premiums for outdoorsmen and their companions -- You must mention these articles to AC Ranches and you will get 20 percent off your selected hunting and outdoor journey.  Check out AC Hunting Ranches for rates and bookings at: http://achuntingranches.com  Contact Allen Spence for information about transportation from Austin or San Antonio:  allen.spence@wildblue.net.  (325-387-2085) Future articles will feature other hunting and regional premiums which you may access by contacting AC Ranches or this website.]
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Who you will find here is an expert outfitter guide, Allen Spence, experienced in the ways of West Texas game, their habits and the fascinating dry, big-sky habitat they thrive in.  Allen will lead you to the best hunting opportunities on this 20,000 acres of ranch, which also may guide you for “getting to yourself.”  

LIFE STIRS IN THE BRUSH

Rise in the morning at 5:00 a.m.  Breakfast, served by Allison.  Drink coffee.  Take your rifle.  Out on the truck. Through the ranch gates.  

Wait for the magic hour up in the blind.  At sun-break in the coolness of morning.  The birds chirp.  It’s dry and it’s stark.  Life stirs in the brush.

Groups of hunters climb up their separate hunting blinds in different locations across the ranch.  Allen guides you to your optimum place for what you want to accomplish.  You observe.  You wait.  He says, “There are two ways to hunt.  You can stalk or you can sit.”  Sitting is the logical way of hunting on AC Ranches.  Patience.  Observation of nature.  The movement of herds and animals.  Of yourself in relation to the animals, their environment, and yourself.

Allen Spence has been a guide for nine years.  He began guiding at AC Ranches in 2008.  He describes his job as we -- his guests; Sharon, Joe, and I -- approach one of the many watering pools on the ranch feed by wells and pumped by windmills, 

“Guiding is just like being in any customer service business,” Allen says.  “The customer always is put first and you try and meet their demands to help get them what they pay for.”

He loves his job saying, “It fulfills a life long dream of working with wildlife and whitetail deer.”

Allen is about 55 years old and fit for the job.  He is married to Allison who is both cook and co-manager of the hunting ranch.  Allen is also expert in bow hunting.  “One of the two best bow hunters I know,” says my friend, Joe Heidelmeier of Austin Texas, himself an outfitting guide.

“Out here,” Allen says, “You need to know the laws, guns, bows and how to set up the right situation for each individual hunter.”

STORIES AT NIGHT

You return. Dinner served again by Allison.  You talk.  You exchange stories of the brush with other outdoorsmen.  The sleep is good.

MOON PHASES AND WEATHER

Allen astonishes me by informing, “Moon phases are important.”

“Why?” I ask.

“Because animals, and herds, react to different phases of the moon.  Hunters need to understand that information,” Allen replies. “We have printed tables.”  These tables explain the relationship between animal behavior, their movement, and the phases of the moon. (information on moon phases at: http://primetimes2.com/pages/4-astrotables.html)

My friend, Joe, says, “Sometimes the full moon is as large as Texas.”

“The weather is important too,” observes Allen.  “You could hunt out here in very warm conditions to below freezing in a matter of days and sometimes hours. So you need to pay attention to your local weather man or an old rancher who sometimes is more accurate. Wind can be your friend or your worst enemy if you set up wrong.”

KEEP YOUR FACE TO THE WIND AND YOUR POWDER DRY

One of the things said out here in West Texas is, “Keep your face to the wind and your powder dry.”  The full meaning of that saw can only be explained in another article online here.  Or if you can get to AC Ranches, just ask and you will learn.  And take home much.

*

To see more articles in this AC Ranch series, go to: 

# 1 "Where the Wild Things Are" 

Links: 
The Ranch:  http://achuntingranches.com

An Outfitting Guide Describes the Harvest -- Two audios range over topics covering outdoorsmanship. Click here:  Hunting Guide  

Sonora Texas information at: http://www.sonoratx-chamber.com

Many thanks to Anne Tongren for providing her excellent editing skills.

OUTFITTER DESCRIBES THE HARVEST

TWO AUDIO PROFILE INTERVIEWS

By © Russ Barnes

Joe Heidelmeier sounds off about what in his background made him an outfitter, an out-doors-man, and a guide to hunters -- as well as others who like to learn about the natural world.  These two audio pieces profile more than just a “hunter.”  They demonstrate a comprehensive perspective -- through the eyes of an enthusiastic storyteller and chef -- of our ecology and humanity’s relationship to it.

http://bonmeasure.org/Joe_h.Inteview.mov 50 minutes

http://bonmeasure.org/Joe_h.Int2.mov  35 minutes

Joe may be reached at jhknives@austin.rr.com in Austin, Texas

OUT WEST ON A TEXAS HUNTING RANCH: "WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE"

Part One of a Series of Six Articles

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AC HUNTING RANCHES, near FORT MCKAVVET, Texas, May 21, 2010. 
By (c) Russ Barnes.  All rights reserved.

Wild turkey take wing here like the Royal Air Force. Deer -- Whitetail and the prized exotic Axis deer -- leap across a sparse prairie meadow. Feral piglets congregate roadside along Route #1674. A rattlesnake stretches out the length of its body and crosses the road.


The sun is up and the air is dry.  On the southwestern horizon, the moon is setting.  And looking out into the big Texas blue sky is like looking into the darkness of deep outer space, as we cruise in Joe Heidelmeier's 250,000-mile-old Ford truck -- "Silver" -- this early May morning on our way to the ranch.

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[NOTE: Discounts, Premiums for outdoorsmen and their companions -- You must mention these articles to AC Ranches and you will get 20% off your selected hunting and outdoor journey.  Check out AC Hunting Ranches for rates and bookings at: http://achuntingranches.com  Contact Allen Spence for information about transportation from Austin or San Antonio:  allen.spence@wildblue.net.  (325-387-2085) Future articles will feature other hunting and regional premiums which you may access by contacting AC Ranches or this website.]

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We had started out in the early morning darkness from Austin, two-hundred miles to the east, traveling along Route #71 on our way to the hunting grounds, the fields, the elk, the antelope, the springs, the caves -- to live oak, mesquite, ticks and chiggers, to bull frogs in watering ponds fed by windmills, dammed up by three levels of old stone masonry on the AC Ranches.

On our way to vistas at 2400 feet above sea level, down to the barns, the hospitality, the cowboys, the hunting and the challenges of all AC Ranches' 20,000 acres.  And on our way to the ranch house of our hosts, Allen and Allison Spence, marked by an eighty-foot high-tech flag pole, with a windmill pumping water from the aquifer beneath, and from there to what would be our own quarters for the next four days among the several hunting lodges and houses spread across the landscape.


Our own version of "City Slickers" -- Billy Crystal and pardners -- come this time to Texas:  Sharon Barnes, my daughter, an award-winning filmmaker from New York City;  me, a writer from Washington DC; and our friend, Joe Heidelmeier.  Joe is the 'non-city slicker' among us. Although he lives in Austin, he spends much of his time as an outfitter on Texas ranches  -- a hunting guide and a knowledgeable outdoorsman.

Allen takes us to our digs at the White Rock House  -- also known as Uncle Albert's House -- one of the hunters' lodges on this expansive ranch.  Allen's boss says to me, "Look what God sent me -- Allen! His honesty is straightforward." The gift to us is that Allen is our guide to the hunting grounds, "where the wild things are," the unique spots in the wilderness, and the lore of the ranch for the length of our stay.


We ride with him in his 1998 Dodge truck with its Cummins diesel engine across the breadth of the ranch, traveling from hunting blind to hunting blind, to deer feeders, to watering pools, to magical places few people on earth have ever seen.


This 20,000 acre spread is also a place of farm crops  -- especially turnips, which the ranch hands pickle along with beets -- and herds -- of black angus cattle, goats, and sheep. Sixty miles away from the nearest grocery store, the ranch is a place not easily reached by the "outer world."  If you need to call 911, it will be a while before your help can reach you. Here you must depend mainly on your own resources, your wit, and with the help of your ranch compadres.


But the ranch has snake bite kits, implements for removing ticks, antibiotics, and a full range of other first aid paraphernalia -- things one should expect to be available on a well-managed ranch and which you will find here on AC Hunting Ranches.

First evening out in Allen’s truck, Thursday, May 6, 2010. Allen and Joe in the front seat, Sharon and I in in the back seat.  It is just before twilight -- the time that the ranchers call the “magic moment” -- when the sun is ready to set on the west Texas horizon.

Sitting in stillness in a blind overlooking one of the 'tanks,' we are dazzled by the wildlife traffic which approaches the man-made tank to drink.  In the dry air, in the diminishing western sunlight, the herds gather and frolic across meadows and fields before disappearing into the mesquite, juniper, and live oak brush.

Every day, Sharon goes for a run on the ranch road in front of our digs -- where hawks and buzzards glide overhead and the fields stretch out to the far horizon -- a decided contrast to the streets back home in Brooklyn. Gradually her sense of time slows down to a measured pace, a feeling of being at home in this world. 


Later in the stay, the ranch owner says to us, “When you come here, you own this ranch.  You really become yourself here.  You feel like you get younger every day.  Dirt in West Texas grows on you.”

[Next Installment:  Don't miss it: Animal behavior, the herds, the flocks, and the energy of fences.  Leave your email address by contacting russ@bonmeasure.org, and you will be prompted for the next edition of this story on “Travel with a Twist.”]
To see more articles in this AC Ranch series, go to: 

# 2 "Hunting Guides"
# 3 "Hanging Out Brilliantly on a Texas Ranch"

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Links: The Ranch:  http://achuntingranches.com
An Outfitting Guide Describes the Harvest -- Two audios range over topics covering outdoorsmanship. Click here:  Hunting Guide

Sonora Texas information at: http://www.sonoratx-chamber.com

Many thanks to Anne Tongren for providing her excellent editing skills.

QUILTING TAKES MORE THAN STITCHES, PATTERNS EXPLAINS AWARD-WINNING LINCOLN NEBRASKA QUILTER, SHELLY BURGE

Quilts Stitch Together Creativity with Fluid Social Networks

By © Russ Barnes

"From the early days of colonial America, quilt-making was a means to keep the family warm,” explains Shelly Burge, an award-winning quilter, from her home in Lincoln, Nebraska.  

Today -- after centuries of American geographic and cultural migration along numerous routes from, for example, Pennsylvania Amish farms to homestead cabins on the American frontier -- “works of quilting, since then,” Shelly continues, “have often become dynamic pieces of artwork fit for the walls of the modern home or museum wall.”

WEALTH FROM BITS & SCRAPS

In speaking with Shelly and other quilters, I grew astonished by the requisite detailed workmanship and the ingenuity applied: bands of old clothing, stray rags, campaign ribbons, abandoned beads, a rainbow of dyes, and pieces of bed sheets.  And of course the pattern, the schematic representation once-upon-a-time cut out of the newspaper -- today, downloaded from the internet -- provides the model from which to improvise the quilt out of sundry bits and scraps.  

Quilting is exemplary in its capacity to tease wealth out of scarcity.

The skill and imagination of the quilter in selecting the most appropriate one-piece backing, the cotton or wool “batting” in the middle, and the myriad top stitches: these selections and combinations appear as if accomplished through a kind of wizardry.

There is something in the quilter's craftsmanship that fulfills the king’s charge to the miller’s daughter in the fairy-tale, Rumpelstiltskin, to spin gold out of straw.  Somehow even an average quilter can accomplish this fairy-tale miracle.

GATHERING FULLNESS 

I asked Shelly what it was that first propelled her interest in quilting.  "My grandmother taught me to sew on a tiny hand-cranked toy sewing machine in the 1950’s," she responded." So began Shelly’s interest, curiosity, and and involvement in fabrics and thread.  When she married her husband, Clint, in 1972, she bought a 1972 Touch and Sew Singer sewing machine.  With that machine, she sewed clothes and other household goods for herself, her husband, her daughter Vicki, and son Ryan.  

By 1973, she had moved on to quilting -- and never looked back.  

“I mostly wore out that sewing machine making quilts.  It took about eight years.” she said.  “I started entering my quilts in the Nebraska State Fair in 1977.  I began in 1983 to teach quilting at guilds and fabric shops.  Then I tried coming up with my own patterns -- different from any printed one.  I took parts of previous ones and combined them with what I had learned,” Shelly revealed.

“I am fascinated with fabric, the characteristics of each type of fabric, and how my knowledge of a pattern, stitch, or technique might lend itself to each of them.”

What has intrigued Shelly over the years is how the quilting craft -- now a $3.5 billion industry -- has morphed into its present rich diversity.  From at first serving as needed house-hold items, quilts then became perfect for gift-giving, bestowed as heirlooms for descendants and loved ones, artifacts for cultural enrichment, and most recently, valuable as funding donations -- contributions -- to worthy causes.  (These several topics will be explored in future posts of “Travel with a Twist.”  Your topic ideas solicited.)

QUILT VARIATIONS “AS NUMEROUS AS THE STARS IN THE SKY”

Listening to Shelly Burge talk with passion about the craft of quilting made a distinct impression on me. I have experienced the beauty of quilts in their seeming infinite variety.  It is clear that quilting is no mere art.  Quilting is also  a powerful means of social and cultural transmission.

In fact, it is a close cousin to digital social networking.  The old, but not extinct, “sewing circles” are becoming extensive social networks, operating much as do digital ones.  They make bottom-up, grassroots “link-ups” for the purpose of transmitting perceptions, techniques, patterns, as well as social, personal, and aesthetic exchanges.

The result is a transmission of quilting ideas and styles across geography and culture -- all working only by the creativity of a single artist at her sewing machine.  When these sucessively influenced quilts are seen side by side, it becomes clear that quilting moves across networks of people something like genetic reproduction: similar features, but fierce and fulfilling in their individuality.

In Lincoln, Shelly belongs to an informal sewing circle of five women who have met once a month for more than twenty-two years. But information about quilting is not all that is traded in this small group, Shelly points out.  “We talk about everything: our families, the schools, volleyball and football, the community.  Everything gets discussed.”

“Even politics?” I ask.  “You debate which political candidates to elect?”

“Yes,” she replies.  “We influence one other.”

SHELLY BURGE, in addition to being an award-winning quilter, is also available as a lecturer on quilting, is a workshop instructor, and a sewing machine collector. For more information on her up-to-date quilting activities are at: http://www.shellyburge.com. Her pieces have won over 125 blue ribbons in the Nebraska State Fair including four Pride of Nebraska awards and five Best Original Design awards. Her quilts have received prestigious recognition in numerous quilt competitions across America, Europe and Japan. She is perhaps best known for her miniature quilts that have won first place in national quilt contests in California, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Florida, Texas and the 1989 Lynn Harris Award for best miniature quilt in the National Quilting Association Show.  She is one of the founders of the Nebraska State Quilt Guild and in 2009 she was named to the Nebraska Quilters Hall of Fame.

QUILTING MUSEUM.  The International Quilt Study Center & Museum is located in Lincoln, Nebraska and is part of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.  One-of-a-kind, the Center houses the largest publicly-held quilt collection in the world. The 3000+ quilts date from the early 1700s to the present and represent over 25 countries.  The museum is open to the public. http://www.quiltstudy.org. 402-472-6549.

LINCOLN, Nebraska -- The Prairie Capital City.  The city’s attractions, accommodations, events information are published by the Lincoln Convention and Visitors Bureau at http://www.lincoln.org. (800) 423-8212. 

THE AMERICAN QUILTER'S SOCIETY. For more information on quilting at http://www.americanquilter.com

(c) Russ Barnes, "Travel with a Twist" will appreciate interactive comments and suggestions. Send post to your interested friends.  My thanks to Karen Alexander www.karenquiltslife.blogspot.com who inspired and helped with this post.

AFTER BEING THROWN AWAY

Buddy.  The Wonder Dog

By (C) Joe Heidelmeier 2010

Photo "Buddy" (C) Karen Alexander 2010

Karen, my bride, never even had a dog of her own. When we met, I had a beautiful Doberman named Gretchen and two cats. Karen loved them as if they were her own and, after a while finally, they all passed. Then I adopted a stray tomcat -- "Olok" -- (our little outside kitty), and a friend gave me a Blue Heeler pup, Sarita. Sarita loved Karen, and was fiercely protective of her. 

But Sarita was, well, MY dog. Not Karen’s.  We used to have access to a large deer lease ranch in South Texas.  Karen spent a lot of time there with me. One weekend, Karen and our friend Lori had gone to town for groceries. There was a gravel county road that bisected the ranch, and on the way in, they noticed something white by the side of the road in the shade of a quisatche bush. It was a dog.  It was a half-grown terrier-mix pup. Karen and Lori came to the camp and told me about this little dog.

I said "go ahead back and get it."   Meaning, go back and get the dog, the stray.  When they got back, the poor dog was covered with fleas and fire ant bites. About all we had for him to eat was some canned cat food, cheese and some bread. He was starving.

We let him sleep on a mat in the trailer with us. He was timid, and obviously had been mistreated and thrown away on this rural road.  We all know something about being thrown away.

We had to take a day trip the next morning, and I told Karen "if he is here when we get back, we'll take him home."

Eight hours later, there he was, standing there waiting for us, sitting on the steps, his crooked little tail wagging.  Karen named him "Buddy".  And Buddy is HER dog.

Best dog I have ever known. Grateful, I suppose.

Karen's dog.

http://www.petfinder.com/shelters.html

THE PRICE OF TOLERANCE?

 By (c) Russ Barnes

In the aftermath of 9/11, sectarian vandals defaced the Southern Maryland Islamic Center in Prince Frederick.  You see, the pendulum still swings in Maryland today between the two extremes -- of tolerance on the one hand and intolerant sectarianism on the other -- very much the way it did in colonial times.

In the months after 9/11, following the best tradition of Maryland, Trinity Church in Historic St. Mary's City reached out and invited the congregation of the Islamic Center to its church functions. And the Islamic Center returned the invitation with graciousness and a meal that was a delicious Middle Eastern feast, accompanied by heartful conversation.

ETERNAL VIGILANCE

Regarding this oscillation between tolerance and intolerance, my guide, Pete Himmelheber observed, "In colonial Maryland, religious tolerance and intolerance acted like a see-saw." Which is still the case in present day Maryland -- bringing to mind Thomas Jefferson's assertion that "the price of liberty is eternal vigilance."

Because of this "see-saw" of tolerance and intolerance, the religious saga and sites of Southern Maryland are not merely antiquarian. Maryland's saga brings living history right up against current public policy.

THE ISSUES

For the United States Commission for International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), the issues raised by the Southern Maryland experiment in religious freedom are more than just public policy. Finding resolution for those same old issues of colonial Maryland -- still unresolved in so much of the world today is considered essential by the USCIRF to the security of the United States and to peace world-wide.

THREAT

Tad Stahnke is Policy Director for USCIRF. His commission's job is to identify problem areas around the world where religious rights are being violated. One of the areas Stahnke uses for illustration is the Maluku Islands in the late '90s where Christians and Muslims have perpetrated violence and destruction largely because of the great degree of isolation between the two groups. Stahnke observes that such pockets of intolerance are an immediate and dangerous threat to the world community.

"Religious intolerance results from a mixture of things -- and that mixture differs in different places," explains Stahnke. "But there are common denominators: intolerance and fear propagated by governments for their own gain, ideology unencumbered by practical necessities, ethnic chauvinism and segregation, localized conflicts over land and use of resources."

Stahnke believes that outside political and economic pressure can help eliminate intolerance, but that local leadership always needs to be encouraged. And somehow there need to be factors that make a region with religious strife ripe for change.

AS PLAIN AS A SOUTHERN MARYLAND SOYBEAN FIELD

Pete Himmelheber explains some of the factors which made the old colony of Maryland ripe for working toward religious tolerance. He simply calls these factors "practical reasons for people to get along." His list is as plain as a Southern Maryland soybean field:

* No established religion to provide favorites.

* Living conditions that allow little choice of who your neighbor will be. In early
Maryland, most arrivals were indentured servants and slaves. Most of these had no
choice as to their master and hence their living arrangements. Freeholders were granted land that was available and so also usually had no choice of neighbors.

* Everyone must be in a position to depend on all the expertise, manufacturing, goods, and labor resources offered in the community regardless of who happens to be offering them. In Maryland, everyone was raising one crop: tobacco. To be successful, one used the only labor, agents, and ship captains available.

* There has to be a perception that there isn't any place else where it would be that much better to go. So then one might least as well try to work it all out right here.

As in Maryland, other colonies were also having their internecine problems.

SPIRITUAL ENERGY LIKE A NUCLEAR REACTOR

For all the see-saw precariousness of the religious tolerance experiment in colonial Maryland, with its many pragmatic motivations, there was also a truly spiritual dimension to its on-going provisional success. One might even call it spiritual power.  And that power is felt even now when one is in the presence of the religious sites in the Southern Maryland of today.

You feel. being here, "Something happened. There is a spirit -- maybe hovering ghosts -- who know something.  They are telling us something about what they know. "

Maybe the spiritual dimension one feels in Southern Maryland is best summed up in the words of Sister Doroda, describing her first experience of the Mount Carmel Monastery, Port Tobacco,  when she says, "The first time I walked into this monastery, it was like walking through a nuclear reactor cooler room. You couldn't hear it. You couldn't see it. But you knew there was tremendous energy here."

LINKS:

St. Mary's County Maryland Historical Society,  http://home.md.metrocast.net/~smchs

St. Mary's County Maryland Travel and Tourism,  http://www.visitstmarysmd.com/tourismtemplate2.asp?content=indexcontent.asp

Calvert County Maryland Visitor Guide,  http://www.co.cal.md.us/visitors

Charles County Maryland Economic Development & Tourism, http://www.thenationsbackyard.com

St. Mary's College,  http://www.smcm.edu