Mark Lepper

No cheating: your last saved pic of a celebrity is your therapist

Mr Rogers, a Caucasian man with dark straight hair with a side part in a light blue button up shirt and a gray blue cardigan sweater. He's looking at the camera with a slight smile on his lips. On his hand is his Daniel Tiger puppet, with light brown fur and yellow eyes.

Mr Rogers is cooling his feet in a kiddie pool with Officer Clemens, played by a black man (who also happened to be gay, which Mr Rogers knew but wasn't public knowledge). This was in May of 1969 during a time of great racial turmoil in the United States. Legal segregation had just recently ended. White racists were still angry about having to share pools and water fountains and other things with black people. They would do things like put acid in public swimming pools to avoid having to share them with black people. So, the fact that Mr Rogers was willing and wanted to do this showed that he was an amazing ally, friend, and neighbor to the black community.

Mr Rogers is engaging in a conversation with Jeff Erlanger, a boy with a disability who used a wheelchair. He spoke with Jeff and let him answer questions and share his thoughts and feelings. He showed everyone watching that people with disabilities are people, too, and deserve to be treated with dignity and respect and compassion. This was in 1981 and the Americans with Disabilities Act didn't pass until 1990, which prohibited discrimination against people with disabilities in all areas of public life.

On this day, in 1968, the world got to visit Mister Rogers' Neighborhood for the first time. And for 33 years, until 2001, he provided a safe place where young people were invited and encouraged to be kind, ask questions, be creative, use their imaginations, and be good neighbors.

What's a line delivery you'll never forget?

Has anyone watched the entire series of Search Party? I just finished the second season & am giving it a chance but at this point, I'm not sure if I'm supposed to like any of the characters. Except for maybe Julian who is a reporter & the main character's ex-boyfriend. I think I like him so far.

These "Don't Tread On Me" people sure do love treading on a lot of other people.

Seems fitting to me that a team with a logo inspired by Native American art should beat a team called the Patriots while a halftime show headlined by a Puerto Rican blows the "All-American" alternative out of the water.

Together we are America.

Some of the very best people I know are Lutherans.

This spring will be 20th anniversary of my seminary graduation. My vocational journey has had a few twists & turns since then, but I'm still very grateful for the learning, formation, community, & friends that I encountered while I was a student there. Still one of the best decisions of my life.

I really miss the days of Saturday morning cartoons and sitcom theme songs.

I've read that AI's water use doesn't even really compare to the amount of water that the livestock industry uses. So, are we all going to become vegetarians, too?

I know Sister Hannah! She's a lot of fun. Blessings on this journey for you!

What community are you making your oblation to?

A white background with blue words that say "The World is Better with You in it, Buddy." Underneath that, in the center is a red heart, on either side are two blue birds with their wings spread, facing the heart. Behind each one is a small rainbow, and then behind each rainbow is a red flower with a blue center and a green stem with two leaves. Surrounding all of these are small blue, red, and green stars and asterisks. The illustrations are symmetrical and span the width of the bumper sticker.

I got this bumper sticker a while back. I didn't immediately put it on my car because I had an idea I would be getting a new one soon.

Well, I got a new car. But I'm still hesitant to put it on because I'm not sure how comfortable I am saying this about everyone these days.

Apparently, Ayds was a weight loss candy that started in the 1940s but ended up being discontinued in the 80s for obvious reasons. I did not know this, though, and thought the commercial was saying that AIDS was now peanut butter flavored and I didn't know how that could work.

I'm still traumatized by this one time in 5th grade (ca 1989, so the middle of the AIDS crisis) and we were watching an older show that my teacher recorded off of TV, and she tried to cut out the commercials, but she missed the beginning of one and it said "NEW PEANUT BUTTER FLAVORED AYDS!"

I'm not saying one is better than the other, but I certainly remember trudging to school through the snow and having to bring snow pants so I could play outside for recess. Now it seems like we get a little snow and everything shuts down.

Hope you are taking Care of yourself. It is a scary time to be in the Twin Cities!

There's a good chance that my cat took my FitBit and hid it somewhere in my apartment.

There is absolutely no flour, eggs, or milk and it's baked in a microwave. I am totally going to make it this week.

I'm a pen pal w/ 2 men who are incarcerated. One celebrated his birthday last month & he's in a low-security facility & was able to bake a cake for himself and his roommates. He sent me the recipe for "prison cake." It involves Oreos, Swiss Miss, root beer, and other stuff. I can't wait to make it!

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ICE to be abolished.

It doesn't matter what kind of person she was. It doesn't matter who she left behind. It doesn't matter how young or old she was, or what her ethnicity was. No one deserves to be murdered like that.

Star Tribune identifies ICE agent who fatally shot woman in Minneapolis Jonathan Ross was dragged in a separate incident last year by a fleeing driver, according to court records.

his name is Jonathan Ross and he shouldn't get a good night's sleep for the rest of his life www.startribune.com/ice-agent-wh...

Barbie in Toy Story 3 saying "Authority should derive from the consent of the governed, not from the threat of force!"

Even Barbie gets it

I had my first hospice volunteer training this afternoon led by the social worker who also coordinates volunteers. Met a nurse who told me some wild stories until the social worker told her to leave because she didn't want me to run away. 😂

I forgot about the time in my friend's dorm room when I was stretching and knocked his fish-shaped wooden cheese board off the wall and it hit me in the face, cutting the bridge of my noise, and causing me to bleed. Luckily no stitches or bruising but a weird cut on my face for a while.

Probably the time I broke my big toe walking down a dark hallway at a friend's house and walked into a TV (CRT, not flat screen).
Or, the time I broke a different toe playing Capture the Flag at a church lock-in and I slipped and fell and kicked a wall while trying to avoid being caught.

The chapel at St Gregory's taken from the guest seating area. The walls and roof are wood,with wooden arches and beams supporting the structure. The monks' choir stalls are on the left and the right, the prior and the Abbot's stalls are at the front, facing the altar. There's a lectern in the middle with an icon of Mary and Jesus on the front. Skylights on both sides of the roof let in some gentle sunlight.

My last day on retreat at St Gregory's Abbey. Time seems to move a little slower here, more contemplative and prayerful. I wasn't quite sure what to expect, as I'd never been here before, but it was a restful time away and a wonderful way to start this new year.

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This quote from Barbara Brown Taylor (from the book GOD IN PAIN) has been a big part of my Christmas prayer these past few weeks:
"He did not come to put us to shame with his divinity. He came to call us into the fullness of our humanity, which was good enough for him."