Herculid Meteor Shower - June 1 at 1 a.m.

 NBC Affiliate station (WNDU-TV)

https://wsbt.com/news/local/meteor-shower-tonight-will-be-boom-or-bust

Boil Water Advisory lifted - May 30, 2022

 City of Niles, MI (Berrien County) has lifted its boil water advisory (May 28, 2022) as

of Monday afternoon (May 30, 2022).

https://www.wndu.com/2022/05/28/city-niles-under-boil-order/

Republic Services - Holiday schedule 2022

 Monday May 30, 2022

All services will be delayed by one day due to the federal holiday;

https://www.republicservices.com/schedule

National Memorial Day Concert - Mall, Washington, D.C. 2022

 as to be shown on PBS (Sunday May 29, 2022) 8 p.m.

Hosted by Joe Mantegna and Gary Sinise

Preview here:

https://www.pbs.org/video/2022-national-memorial-day-concert-preview/

Boil Order - City of Niles, Michigan (Berrien County) - Saturday May 28, 2022

 as announced at WNDU-TV website (NBC affiliate

Due to a drop in the water's supply, Bacterial Contamination may have happened in the water system.

Residents are urged to boil their drinking water for one minute, until further notice.

https://www.wndu.com/2022/05/28/city-niles-under-boil-order/

Warning until 2 a.m. tomorrow

 High waves at Lake Michigan beaches and piers, strong currents, dangerous swimming conditions

in MICHIGAN Berrien County

from Friday 5/27/2022 until Saturday 2 a.m.

Strong currents can pull swimmers into deeper water and high winds can sweep people off piers

Beach Hazard Statement

Last Day for Students (2021-22 School Year)

 Half Day on June 14, 2022

Niles MI (Berrien County) Public School Calendar

7:30 - Noon

Half Day for Students

 Niles Community School District (Niles, Michigan BERRIEN COUNTY)

27 May 2022

7:30 a.m. - 12 Noon Eastern TIME

Half Day for Students

Thunderstorm - High winds (SE Berrien County, Michigan) - May 25, 2022

 Until 9 p.m. Eastern

Strong Thunderstorm; Gusty winds up to 50 mph.

Radar indicated

The Lincoln Memorial and American Life - narrative description of 1922 dedication ceremony

 by Christopher A. Thomas (pages 154-55)

"The dedication was a microcosm of both the promising and the unfortunate in American life.

Though focused on a classical temple, it celebrated the futuristic ideal of progress through

technology that animated many Americans in the 1920s.  Along with the crowds came the headache

of parking ten thousand cars, a harbinger of things to come in Potomac Park.

The speeches, delivered with classical rhetorical flourish by speakers in striped pants and

swallowtail coats, were carried to the ears of the crowds by microphones and loudspeakers.  The

speeches were audible because, though airplanes were allowed to fly over the memorial before

and after the ceremony to take aerial photographs, a two-mile boundary on overflight was imposed

during official proceedings.  The pilot of a commercial plane got the time wrong, however,

and flew over the memorial 'with its motor making a hideous noise. . .while the President

was speaking' - - another hint of things to come" 

Lincoln Memorial (D.C.) -- its dedication May 30, 1922

 from Christopher A. Thomas book THE LINCOLN MEMORIAL & AMERICAN LIFE (2002)

"Conducted at the highest level of government on the afternoon of Memorial Day (May 30), the

1922 ceremony drew a crowd, reliably estimated at 35,000, believed to be the largest in the

city's history to that time.  The ceremony focused on the presentation of the memorial to the nation

by Chief Justice Taft, as chairman of the Lincoln Memorial Commission, and its acceptance

and dedication by President Warren G. Harding.  Besides these official events, the dedication

inadvertently set a trajectory for the powerful role the memorial would later play in

unofficial, national symbolics." page 153

Nuclear Power Plant (Palisades, SW Michigan) closes 11 days early (May 20, 2022)

 coverage of the Entergy Corporation Nuclear Power Plant named "Palisades" on Lake Michigan

near Covert, Michigan

https://abc57.com/news/palisades-nuclear-power-plant-shuts-down-permanently

Sunburst Races -- first in South Bend, IN is Saturday June 4, 2022

Three Races 

Half-marathon, 10K, 5K

benefits Beacon Health Care rehabilition system (Memorial Hospital) and Children's Hospital

Details / sign-up link at website also information about

Granger August 7, 2022

Elkhart October 2, 2022

https://sunburst.beaconhealthsystem.org/

https://www.facebook.com/SunburstRaces/

Armed Forces Day is May 21, 2022

 Information at USO dot-org

https://www.uso.org/stories/2225-when-is-armed-forces-day

Strawberry Moon 2022

 This Full Moon for June 2022 will be a supermoon;

the Strawberry Full Moon this year will rise in the evening of June 14.

It will appear large and golden-hued.  More details at almanac.com (Old Farmer's Almanac).

https://www.almanac.com/content/full-moon-june

Strong Thunderstorms (SE Berrien County, Michigan) - May 21, 2022

 7 a.m. Saturday

Strong thunderstorms moving through the area - high winds

dangerous lightning possible

National Weather Service announcement

https://weather.com/weather/alerts/localalerts/l/c19fd083f8fef1bbbe76e6eca494d09cbcfc55627cddf8c383d665d066b73b14?phenomena=TSL&significance=S&areaid=MIZ077&office=KIWX&etn=0000

affecting Niles, Buchanan, Berrien Springs

and nearby areas and highways 

Notre Dame faculty article cited by Buffalo Hate Crime perpetrator -- White Supremacy screed

 from local WNDU (NBC) affiliate web news page

https://www.wndu.com/2022/05/20/buffalo-shooting-suspect-cites-notre-dame-faculty-article-manifesto/

Lake Michigan & Lake Huron over last 2 years -- LOST 20 Trillion gallons of water

 Coverage at Michigan Live! online article

https://www.mlive.com/weather/2022/05/lake-michigan-lake-huron-lost-20-trillion-gallons-of-water-over-last-2-years.html

The two Great Lakes are 8 inches lower than last year and a full 25 inches lower than the

record levels in 2020.

Blood Drive - Tuesday June 7, 2022 - Niles, Michigan 49120

 1340 Sycamore Street [ St. Paul's Lutheran Church LCMS ]

Niles, MI 49120

Noon - 6 p.m.

Walk-ins welcome

Web registration at Versiti.org

https://donate.michigan.versiti.org/donor/schedules/drive_schedule/147999

Michigan court temporarily stops 1931 abortion complete ban

 Covered in Michigan Public Radio 

https://www.michiganradio.org/criminal-justice-legal-system/2022-05-17/michigan-court-temporarily-stops-enforcement-of-states-1931-abortion-ban

May 17, 2022

ahead of SCOTUS announcement of ruling that may end "Roe versus Wade" 1973 ruling of Warren Court

Extent of Summer Session (Notre Dame June - July term)

 More details at ND dot-edu

https://events.nd.edu/events/2022/06/13/summer-session-begins-full-six-weeks/

Monday June 13 through July 22, 2022

https://summersession.nd.edu/Calendar/Session-Dates/

Two total eclipses of the Full Moon

 Both tonight May 15, 2022 - 11:30 p.m. Eastern

https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/16/world/total-lunar-eclipse-images-may-2022-scn/index.html

and Nov. 8, 2022

Both visible from Northern Hemisphere and N. America.

Third record-setting day

 Today is Friday May 13, 2022

High temperature for Niles, Michigan (Berrien County) is

90 degrees Fahrenheit.

4 p.m. eastern time zone

Armed Forces Day -- Saturday 5/21/2022

 This annual recognition day for all Americans and those on active duty for this year (1,366,657)

Median age is 27 years

Median income is 40,700 dollars

https://www.census.gov/newsroom/stories/armed-forces-day.html

for 2022 the date is Saturday May 21

Second day in a row -- Today's Record High Temperature -- May 12

 5/12/2022 -- previous record was 86 degrees F.

Today's high temperature at 3 p.m. Eastern Time

88 degrees

The Nicene Creed revised in 381 as Nicene-Constantinoplian Creed

 Where it came from, what it means then and today, and why it still matters?

ZONDERVAN publishers web article (Grand Rapids, MI)

https://zondervanacademic.com/blog/the-nicene-creed-where-it-came-from-and-why-it-still-matters

Billy Joel in Concert - June 25, 2022 at Notre Dame Football Arena 8 p.m.

https://events.nd.edu/events/2022/06/25/new-date-billy-joel-in-concert/ 

https://gameday.nd.edu/special-events/billy-joel/

TicketMaster connection = 800-653-8000 ticketmaster.com

Tailgating from 10 a.m. until 8 p.m. No one allowed to tailgate in the parking lots 

once the concert begins.

Diane Seuss (Kalamazoo College instructor and writer-in-residence) wins Pulitzer Prize

 from Michigan Live! coverage of her Monday May 9, 2022 Pultizer Award

https://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/2022/05/kalamazoo-poet-wins-pulitzer-prize.html

Frank: Sonnets is her fifth published book of poetry.

New Record High Temperature (90 degrees F.) set on Wednesday May 11

 The previous high was 88 degrees F. 

Heat index of 96

Berrien County, Michigan -- City of Niles, MI (north of South Bend, IN)

Total Lunar Eclipse - May 15, 2022

 Begins 10:30 p.m. Eastern

Ends 11:30 p.m. Sunday May 15, 2022

Details here at National Public Radio online article

https://www.npr.org/2022/05/09/1097586430/total-lunar-eclipse-may-15-how-to-watch

Free Comic Book Day (2022)

 May 7, 2022

Call ahead to your local comic book store to learn how they are participating;

several titles may be available.

Here is CNN online story with full coverage =

https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/07/us/free-comic-book-day-2022-trnd/index.html

Emily Dickinson

 Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) made no overt comment against slavery in her poetry.

Yet in this poem "Color -- Caste -- Denomination" (1864) she seems to be concerned about racism and caste.

The intimations of racial equality as the natural condition of humankind and the wrongness of dividing

and labeling human beings by race or color are inescapable.

[ From AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY WRITINGS (Library of America volume #233) -- page 866 ]

"Color -- Caste -- Denomination --

These -- are Time's Affair --

Death's diviner Classifying

Does not know they are --

As in sleep -- all Hue forgotten --

Tenets -- put behind --

Death's large -- Democratic fingers

Rub away the Brand --

If Circassian -- He is careless --

If He put away

Chrysalis of Blonde -- or Umber --

Equal Butterfly --

They emerge from His Obscuring --

What Death -- knows so well --

Our minuter intuitions --

Deem unplausible."

Harriet Tubman

 from THE REFUGEE (1856 : narratives of fugitive slaves)

page 745 paragraph in "American Anti-Slavery Writings" (volume in 2013 Library of America series)

ISBN: 978-1-59853-196

"I grew up like a neglected weed,

ignorant of liberty, having no experience of it.

Then I was not happy or contented: every time I saw a white man I

was afraid of being carried away.  I had two sisters carried away in a 

chain-gang, one of them left two children.

We were always uneasy.

Now I've been free, I know what a dreadful condition slavery is.

I have seen hundreds of escaped slaves, but I never saw one

who was willing to go back and be a slave.   I have no opportunity

to see my friends in my native land.

We would rather stay in our native land, if we could be

as free there as we are here.  I think slavery is the next thing

to hell.  If a person would send another into bondage,

he would, it appears to me, be bad enough to send him

into hell, if he could."

Henry David Thoreau - lecture in 1854 on "Slavery in Massachusetts"

 from "American Anti-Slavery Writings" volume in Library of America series (#233) - 2012 second printing -- this paragraph on page 704 of this volume ISBN 978-1-59853-196-1

Will mankind never learn that policy is not morality --

that it never secures any moral right, but considers

merely what is expedient? chooses the available 

candidate, who is invariably the devil, and what right

have his constituents to be surprised, because

the devil does not behave like an angel of light?

What is wanted is men, not of policy, but of probity

who recognize a higher law than the Constitution,

or the decision of the majority.

The fate of the country does not depend on how you

vote at the polls -- the worst man is as strong as the

best at that game;

it does not depend on what kind of paper you drop

into the ballot-box once a year, but on what kind

of man you drop from your chamber into the

street every morning.

Chess Tournament

 May 7, 2022 begins 10:30 a.m. Eastern

First Saturday monthly in the Library Rotunda -- all ages

Chess Club (Niles District Library is host) Tournaments are for Chess Federation members

Admission is free; no pre-registration is required

620 E. Main street, Niles MI 49120

phone 269-684-8545

info@nileslibrary.net

At the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem -- poem by Countee Cullen (part of COLOR)

 part of early poetry (1925 publication) -- in Major Jackson's edition of "Collected Poems" for Library

of America Series 2013, ISBN 978-1-59853-083-4 - American Poets Project

Of all the grandeur that was Solomon's

High testament of Israel's far pride,

Shedding its lustre like a sun of suns,

This feeble flicker only has not died.

This wall alone reminds a vanquished race,

This brief remembrance still retained in stone, 

That sure foundations guard their given place

To rehabilitate the overthrown.

So in the battered temple of the heart,

That grief is harder on that time on stone,

Though three sides crumble, one will stand apart,

Where thought may mourn its past, remembrance groan,

And hands now bare that once were rich with rings

Rebuild upon the ancient site of things.

Countee Cullen Poem: "Simon the Cyrenian Speaks" (from COLOR: 1925)

 He never spoke a word to me,

And yet He called my name;

He never gave a sign to me,

And yet I knew and came.

At first I said, "I will not bear

His cross upon my back;

He only seeks to place it there

Because my skin is black."

But He was dying for a dream,

And He was very meek,

And in His eyes there shone a gleam

Men journey far to seek.

It was Himself my pity bought;

I did for Christ alone

What all of Rome could not have wrought

With bruise of lash or stone.

page 12 of "Countee Cullen: Collected Poems" edited by Major Jackson

Library of America Publisher 2013 Tulane University

ISBN 978-1-59853-083-4

Booksigning event - May 4, 2022 at Niles Public Library, Niles, MI

 Fort St. Joseph Revealed (copies available at Niles District Library for $10)

Authors Signing event canceled 5:30 p.m. today Wed. 5/4/22

http://nileslibrary.com/

Events

in partnership with Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project

Merry Month of May 2022

 May 2 = 18 page views

May 3 = 28 page views

May 4, 2022 = 56 page views

May 5, 2022 = 31 page views

May 6 = 47 page views

May 7 (Saturday) = 37 page views

May 10 - 47 page views

May 11 = 26 page views

May 12 = 28 page views

May 13 = 18 page views

May 16, 2022 = 20 page views

May 18 = 29 page views

May 20 = 42

May 21 = 47 page views

May 23 = 36

May 24 = 71

May 25 = 32

May 26 = 30

May 28 = 28 page views

May 29 = 18

May 31 = 24

month of May 1 - 31, 2022 =   794  page views

Renaissance Faire (Niles, Michigan) Plym Park May 21 - 22, 2022

 Entrance Tickets $4 for seniors, veterans, & children ages 5 - 13

$7 ages 13 and up

Children under 5 free.

10 a.m. - opening on Saturday 21st

4 p.m. - closing on Sunday 22nd

As you walk through the gates (401 Marmont Street, Niles, MI) meet celebration of

pre-modern times -- merchants selling wares / bards with musical talents / jailer, who for a price,

will lock up a member of your party for a set period of medieval jail.

Details on their FACEBOOK page -- renaissancefaire

Four Flags Apple Festival (Niles, Michigan) "Spring Market" 2022

 May 14 and 15, 2022

Corner of 17th Street and Lake Street, Niles, MI (far North and Eastern neighborhood near H.School)

Saturday 10 - 7 and sunday 10 - 4

Food Vendors, Crafts, Produce, and More

https://abc57.com/news/apple-festival-spring-market-returns-may-14-15