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Mystery Plant! #722
Posted 5/10/23
By John Nelson
johnbnelson@sc.rr.com
All of the maple trees of the world belong to a genus which has been named “Acer”. There are well over 100 different species, and practically all of them are native to the northern hemisphere. Maples play an important role in various ecological settings and forest types, and several species have considerable economic value. For instance, there is sugar maple, from which maple syrup comes… maybe that’s the best example. Otherwise, the wood of different maples is useful traditionally in making musical instruments, bowling pins (although I can’t imagine that some sort of plastic is now more commonly used for them), and just good for carving, too. Oh right, and also baseball bats. Maples are some of the most attractive canopy species in temperate forests, especially in the autumn, with really colorful foliage, one of the big reasons to spend time driving around in the mountains around here at “peak” season.
All maples are what we say are dioecious…this is a term we’ve used before, and it refers to a species whose individual plants are either staminate (“male”) and producing pollen, or pistillate (“female”), producing seeds. The leaves are always opposite, that is, two at a time on a twig. The leaves are simple, with a single blade, and usually equipped with lobes, most of the time angular, and often toothed. Think of the maple leaf on the Canadian flag. Or maybe a Japanese maple. The fruits are distinctive, and they are called “samaras”: each is equipped with an elongated wing which allows it to helicopter through the air once dropped.
Our Mystery Plant is a maple, but a bit of an oddball: its leaves are compound, with three leaflets. The twigs are green. It’s a tree which is frequent in most of the eastern USA, and it is generally found in damp forests.
And now, for some true confessions. Those of you who have ever gone on one of my botany field trips will remember that I am fond of being naughty with my students at times…I’ve enjoyed teasing them occasionally with little snippets of botany humor. I have, I shall admit, used our Mystery Plant as one of these subjects, announcing to the gathered class that this tree is an example of the astounding “POISON-IVY TREE”! And that the kids need but to gaze upon its fearsome trunk and bright green “let-it-be” foliage to know and tremble! Of course, and as we have learned, our Mystery Plant has foliage which does look a lot like that of poison ivy. But poison ivy is never a tree…it often grows on trees, however, and large vines of it with their horizontally spreading stems can make it look like a tree itself. If you are fond of hikes in the woods, it’s a good idea to be confident about knowing what is and what is not poison ivy: mistakes involving its identifications can cause serious torment, if you are susceptible to its biochemical power. Our Mystery Plant, though, shouldn’t cause any problems.
[Answer: “Box elder,” Acer negundo]
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John Nelson is the retired curator of the Herbarium at the University of South Carolina, in the Department of Biological Sciences. As a public service, the Herbarium offers free plant identifications. For more information, visit www.herbarium.org or email johnbnelson@sc.rr.com.
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20 Lessons Learned: From Diploma to Today
Posted 5/10/23
By Reba Campbell
‘Tis the season for college graduations. USC’s recent graduation weekend makes me realize I walked across the Carolina Coliseum stage 40 years ago to pick up my Journalism degree.
Several days later, I packed my car heading to DC to start my first job as a Congressional receptionist. In looking back, I tried to remember if I was concerned that my first job mainly involved answering phones, giving tours and driving my boss to the airport. After all, I believed my resume illustrated strong leadership skills, solid job experience and good writing samples.
As best I can remember, I was thrilled with that first job. I knew turnover was high in Congressional offices, and young staffers could move up quickly if given the chance to prove themselves. I had my sights set on being a press secretary, after all.
That newly minted young professional had no idea what was in store for the next 40 years of a winding, yet in retrospect, amazingly aligned career path. I also had no idea of the lessons I’d learn along the way.
That newly minted young professional had no idea what was in store for the next 40 years of a winding, yet in retrospect, perfectly aligned career path. I also had no idea of the lessons I’d learn along the way.
A number of years ago, I started an inventory of those professional life lessons to use in a presentation for a group of college seniors. Since then, I like to revisit and update this collection of lessons annually as a way to reflect on the past year.
Read on for this year’s updated list of career lessons. Hopefully seasoned and new professionals alike will find a nugget or two here.
1. Take risks. Look for the unexpected opportunities. No one can expect perfection. It’s OK to be a beginner. You can often learn more from mistakes than successes. Yes, really, you can.
2. Cultivate strong writing skills. Solid writers are the people strong leaders want around the leadership table with them. Be the one colleagues seek out to flesh out and articulate ideas clearly on paper with accurate spelling, grammar and punctuation. Even if writing isn’t a priority part of your job, be the one on the team who can quickly break down and communicate concepts on paper.
3. Go to your boss with a solution, not a problem. Your boss is solving problems all day. Make her life easier by presenting a solution when you present a problem. Even if it’s not the solution that ultimately solves the problem, presenting an idea for a solution keeps your boss from dreading the sight of you at the door or your number on her phone.
4. Keep up with people. The students you sat next to in class. Your roommates and their friends. Bosses in your entry level college jobs. Lab partners. Professors. The people you met through your campus activities. College deans. They will all have contacts within their professional circles. Stay in touch with them. You never know where a new job contact, sales relationship or your next stellar employee will come from. Every job change I ever made was the result of someone I knew making a connection for me. All of my current Medway Group clients grew out of established relationships. The connection to one of my first clients came from a former intern.
5. Be interested and interesting. Ask good questions and ask them often. Young professionals have a great deal to offer a work environment. Speak up when you have something to offer, but remember to balance your enthusiasm with senior-level colleagues’ experience.
6. Keep learning your craft. Find out what your boss or leaders in your profession are reading or listening to (books, blogs, professional publications, podcasts, websites, etc). Seek out professional development opportunities. Pay for them yourself, if necessary. Join professional organizations and get involved.
7. Be kind and remember that everyone carries their own sack of rocks. You never know what type of personal issues the co-worker who missed a deadline is dealing with at home or with his family.
8. Write thank-you and follow-up notes (handwritten, not emailed). Collect business cards or contact info from people you meet at events, in meetings, or just out and about. A handwritten “nice to meet you” note will set you apart and help people you meet remember you. Technology is good, but the personal touch still matters (along with good penmanship).
9. Travel any chance you get. Travel to small towns and big cities across the country and around the world. Don’t put off travel – use your vacation days. You’ll never tell your grandchildren about that great trip you didn’t take because you were too busy at work.
10. Plan the work before you work the plan. Having no plan gets you nowhere. Plans will change either by force or circumstance. Be flexible, but have a plan regardless of whether it’s a work project, a trip, a job search, a major purchase or an important life decision.
11. Looking busy doesn’t equal being productive. The co-worker who crows about her heavy workload and long hours is probably much less productive than the one who is organized and prioritizes his days.
12. Be a good listener and observer. It’s an old adage, but true – there’s a reason we have two ears and one mouth. Watching and listening to others can bring valuable insights to the words you eventually speak.
13. Stay in the loop, but avoid the gossip. Be a “boundary spanner”— someone who is respected and trusted by people at all levels of the organization. Just don’t be the one who everyone counts on to know “the dirt.”
14. Build your financial literacy. Pay yourself first. If you use direct deposit, set up an allocated amount to go to your savings account from each paycheck. If you get the chance to participate in your company’s 401K, do it! Even that smallest contribution early in your career will help you establish good saving and investment habits. Learn the basics of budgeting, saving and investing. Keep your rainy day fund separate from your retirement dollars.
15. Seek out a mentor. I’ve found most mentor relationships happen naturally rather than being established formally. Be on the lookout for them. I bet my best mentors probably don’t know they even served in that role. Also, look for “reverse mentoring” opportunities. You can be a resource to your older colleagues. Seasoned professionals can learn a great deal from their younger peers.
16. A good editor will make you shine. Don’t look at having your writing edited as you would look at a teacher correcting a paper. Editing is a collaborative process, and there’s always room for improvement in your writing.
17. Move during the day. Regardless of whether you have a desk job, use your lap as your desk while sitting on the couch or work outside of a traditional office environment, moving your body and getting your brain engaged in something other than your work is key to sanity and creativity. Walk around the block, stretch once an hour, or put in your earbuds and listen to high energy music.
18. Sharpen your speaking skills. A strong speaking presence doesn’t come naturally to everyone, but practice can help anyone improve. Seek out opportunities to speak up in meetings, identify your pain points, practice in front of a mirror, mirror speakers you admire. Learn to be the one in the room who can catch, and keep, people’s attention.
19. Establish your personal brand. Decide what you want your reputation in the workplace to be, and let your actions define you. Keep promises and make deadlines. Under-promise and over-deliver. Avoid behavior in your personal life that could hurt your professional life (even more true today with all the risks of social media in the mix). Remember that details count, especially when getting the details right sets you apart from others.
20. Have fun and be creative. Figure out your own version of work/life balance. The “balance” will probably fluctuate daily, and it most certainly looks different after the COVID experience, but keep focused on creative outlets, exercise and hobbies that let you have fun.
Reba is the president of the Medway Group. She is passionate about travel; writing; learning to play the uke, guitar and keyboard; and staying connected with old friends. She can be reached at reba@themedwaygroup.com, @rebahcampbell on Instagram and Twitter and through her blog, Random Connect Points (bit.ly/RandomConnectPoints).
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Living on Purpose: Are you in love with God?
5/9/23
By Dr. William Holland
The Almighty has the power to unlock all doors and break down every obstacle. We also believe He can do whatever He wants, but often are left clueless to comprehend His decisions. I’ve heard testimonies from individuals who were in a grave situation and suddenly they were delivered. Coincidence? No, I believe God had a precise plan that would bring Him glory. On the other hand, as a chaplain, I’ve been on scene where someone was involved in a terrible accident or had taken their own life and obviously, He did not prevent that. No human can understand why sometimes He intervenes and other times He does not, but His sovereignty is defined as Him being the Omniscient judge with all authority. Didn’t we pray, not my will but thy will be done?
So what about our desires and choices? If we want to spend time each day praying for a stronger spiritual awareness, and focusing on developing a closer relationship with Christ, we certainly have the opportunity to do it. He designed us with free will which means we choose what we do and whom we serve, and it’s evident who desires to be filled with God’s Spirit and who could care less. The religious masses will scoff and say, “It’s ridiculous! No one can think about God all the time!” Really? This is not true. Responses like this are a defense mechanism trying to disguise guilt by justifying rebellion. There is a remnant today that is devoted to being one with God. They desire to pull away from the dark persuasions of the world and passionately invest their entire lives in drawing nearer to Him. Are you included with these disciples?
I can hear the arguments now, “Am I supposed to live in a monastery and chant day and night, I have a family and I want to enjoy the pleasures of life!” Did I say the only way to know and love God was to live in the isolation of a dungeon? I’m just trying to relay that every Christian can live in the awareness of God’s presence while also receiving all the blessings that God wants to graciously give. What I’m talking about is love. It would be amazing if we loved Him only a fraction of how much He loves us. Do we love Him enough to give Him our will completely? Let’s see, should I pray, study, and worship, or watch this next movie? I’ll do it later. We are guilty of drawing blueprints for our lives, but shouldn’t we be following the plans God has made for us? There are consequences when we manage our daily affairs without first consulting our Master.
I know a man that had a wonderful wife, two beautiful children, a great job, a nice house, and new cars, but one day he sold everything and set out to walk with God and live completely by faith. I consider him a Bible scholar, but he thought that by pulling away from trusting and depending on this world, he could lead his family into the realms of a higher spiritual existence. However, instead of finding peace and joy, he was confronted with every possible attack imaginable. They faced fear, worry, discouragement, frustration, and stress, and after all the money was gone, he was haunted by feelings of failure. Since this idea was supposedly sanctioned by the Lord, he felt accountable to hold firm to his faith. Long story short, his wife took the children and divorced him.
I realize there are different opinions about this story, but whether God intervenes or not, or even if we relocate to an igloo in the North Pole, we are still who we are and our relationship with Him is in our heart. The only reason why we would not live in the awareness of His presence is because we are not really in love with Him. Going off-grid and living in a recreational vehicle does not make us more holy, it’s all about loving Him to the point that we want to be with Him more than anything else in the world. When this happens, the nature and character of Christ will be seen within us wherever we are. Beyond the words and deeds, walking the narrow path is to know God so intimately that we are constantly listening for His still small voice, however, we cannot obey God and live according to our own decisions at the same time.
Read more about the Christian life at billyhollandministries.com
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Mystery Plant! #721
Posted 5/4/23
By John Nelson
johnbnelson@sc.rr.com
All the leaves seem to be unfolding or already expanded around us now, or just about, and it’s time to discuss…again…a tree with very distinctive foliage.
Now, I must report that this past Friday I was leading a field trip for a crowd of Master Naturalists here in South Carolina, a field trip sponsored by our very active local chapter of the Wildlife Federation. What a wonderful time it was: we all met up at a place not too far from Columbia called “Peach Tree Rock Preserve”, managed by the Nature Conservancy. I’ve known of this place since I was an undergraduate student many years ago, and the place is still an enduring fascination for me, and I might think just about any naturalist who ends up there.
This is one of the first trees we saw on the trail. It is potentially a very large tree, up to 120 or so feet tall. It is a common forest component from southern New England through the lower Ohio River Valley, all the way to Texas and through the upper half of Florida. You don’t see it too much in the higher elevations of the Appalachians, but otherwise, it is a standard component of many woodland environments throughout the Southeast. It seems to prefer rich, moist river bottoms, and tolerates a fair amount of flooding. It is adaptable to drier settings, too, such as the high ground of the sandhills where we were checking it out.
The bark on large individuals is a handsome grey, finely braided. Twigs commonly bear odd, corky outgrowths, sometimes as a series of warty bumps, or perhaps as prominent ridges. (Don’t ask me what they are for. A lot of structures on plants seem to have no apparent utility or function.) But it is the leaves of this tree, in our image as they appear in the summer, which instantly separate this species from everything else: nothing else has smooth leaves with five (sometimes seven) lobes, these toothy, and when crushed, releasing that distinctive medicinal scent. Indeed, maple leaves are similar in shape, but note that a maple’s leaves are always “opposite” or two-at-a-time on the twig, rather than our Mystery Plant’s, whose leaves are alternate, one at each node. By the way, for autumn color, this species is hard to match. Its leaves are variable from tree to tree, commonly bright gold, but also orange, ruby red or a deep russet. Of course, right now the leaves are nice and fresh, dark green and handsome.
This is one of those trees which produces both male and female flowers. The male flowers are tiny and in clusters on upright stalks, while the female flowers (also tiny) are in globose heads. As the female flowers age, they coalesce into a distinct green ball, which at maturity is hard and prickly, no fun to step on. You’ll also want to know of this tree’s sap, which once upon a time was used rather extensively for medicinal purposes by Native Americans and settlers.
[Answer: “Sweetgum,” “Redgum,” Liquidambar styraciflua]
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John Nelson is the retired curator of the Herbarium at the University of South Carolina, in the Department of Biological Sciences. As a public service, the Herbarium offers free plant identifications. For more information, visit www.herbarium.org or email johnbnelson@sc.rr.com.
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When A Church Dies
Posted 5/4/23
By Tom Poland
A Southern Writer
www.tompoland.net
tompol@earthlink.net
Some linger in woods. Some stand, for now, at the end or side of a dirt road. Some hide behind other buildings, and some haunt the edge of hamlets and villages.
Abandoned churches. How does a church die? I know that things change, that people move away, that often an elderly congregation has no youth to replace it and that towns die and an exodus takes place. People leave a church when it’s no longer possible to carry on. I like to think that when that day of dread arrives, a congregation of three or four sings a hymn, prays, and then cries as they shut the door for the last time.
In the past few years I’ve photographed abandoned churches in South Carolina and Georgia, my province of Georgialina. My wanderings have taken me to churches named Friendship in Georgia and Dothan in an extinct South Carolina community known as Morgana. Morgana, say it again. What a beautiful word as in Fata Morgana, a mirage, and what you see here is a kind of mirage, a church that is not a church anymore. You see the shell of a church. A church dies when its congregation is no more.
Some cling to life through the kindness of others such as Barrs Chapel in Edgefield County. I read that services take place there twice a year, once in autumn and at Christmas when a candlelight service takes place. And I’ve stopped by Friendship Baptist Church near Tignall, Georgia. A long steel cable runs from the church to a tree. Best I figure that’s to keep it from falling over.
Many old churches still have pews and a piano. (I heard the beautiful and haunting tale of a forester who taught himself to play a piano in an abandoned church.)
Some churches command me to visit them. On A Sunday in April I drove to Peak, South Carolina. I was on a quest. I sought the St. Simon’s Episcopal Church, but finding it wasn’t easy. The old church hid behind a home and you had to know just where and when to look or you’d miss it. I missed it. Missed it more than once. Flustered I parked near a building to figure out what to do when by a stroke of good luck, I spotted a gentleman and asked him where it was. A pillar of the community, Dr. Carroll Pinner, led me to the church.
Engraved into the church’s cornerstone wreathed in vines is 1900, a cross, and an ear. The old carpenter gothic church still stands. She’s ailing though. Members of the Pinner family, Peak community, and others hope to restore the church but help is needed. More on that to come.
The church is beautiful and historic. It’s had a significant impact on civil rights in South Carolina and has ties to astronaut Maj. Gen. Charles F. Bolden. With the help of a friend of St. Simon’s Church, Buddy Johnson of Little Mountain, I hope to sit down with the Reverend Simon P. Bouie to get details on the church’s history and legacy. Buddy sent me a document that says the church had its beginnings as an African American Episcopal congregation in 1889 under the leadership of Reverend G.E. Howell.
It may be, I’m told, the earliest instance of an integrated school in South Carolina, long before any civil rights movement began. I’ll be returning to this story in a magazine feature where I will be armed with much more information. For now “When A Church Dies” is a sad familiar refrain other inactive and abandoned churches know so well. As Peak’s population declined, attendance at St. Simon’s dropped. By the 1920s regular services were pretty much a thing of the past.
As my Grandmother Walker faced the inevitable, she told me more than once that all her friends were in the ground. That’s how an abandoned church must feel. All its members are in the ground. It falls on others, latecomers, you could say, to step forward and save places of import and charisma. St. Simon’s has both and it deserves to be saved and restored.
Tom Poland’s website at www.tompoland.net
Email Tom about most anything at at tompol@earthlink.net
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Blink Book Review#13: “It. Goes. So. Fast.: The Year of No Do-Overs” by Mary Louise Kelly
Posted 5/2/23
By Reba Campbell
The books I enjoy the most typically sit unfinished with one chapter to go. They deliciously hang out in my reading stack or on my audiobook list the same way the last bite of my favorite chocolate cookie sits wrapped up on the counter.
I savor the thought of it. I visit it occasionally. I conjure up visions of slowly consuming that last morsel. “It. Goes. So. Fast.: The Year of No Do-Overs” is one of those books. It sat unfinished in my audiobook app for five days. I just didn’t want it to end. This book is the memoir of NPR anchor Mary Louis Kelly’s “year of no do-overs” as her 18-year-old son entered his senior year in high school. Her job as the anchor of NPR’s afternoon news show, “All Things Considered,” meant she went on air every weekday at 4 p.m. – the exact time of her sons’ weekly Monday soccer games. (Her younger son was a high school sophomore at the time and also a soccer player).
Every year, Kelly had told herself, this would be the year that she would make the time to be more present, go to more games, carve out more time with her sons. Every year, when she fell short of this goal, she knew she had many more years ahead for a do-over. Then her first-born became a senior. Kelly realized there would be no more do-overs.
She wrote this book in real time as she lived her son’s senior year through the eyes and the heart of a highly successful, deeply committed news professional who also wanted to make sure her family came first. It’s written in essay-style chapters that connect a reader with compelling first-person storytelling, gut busting humor, and non-judgmental sage advice.
It’s obvious from the first chapter that Kelly is more than just a talking head news anchor. She writes with the clarity of a former newspaper reporter, the depth of a novelist (which she is) and the heart of a mom.
This audiobook version caused untold “driveway moments” when I had to finish a chapter before getting out of the car. I daily looked forward to riding around town feeling like Mary Louise (we’re on a first name basis by now, of course) was buckled in my passenger seat chatting about her personal experiences as a mom, international public radio correspondent, friend, daughter and wife. Her voice is as familiar as a family member’s (I’m a huge NPR fan girl), so it made for easy listening.
But when I realized I was at the last chapter, I chugged in a big breath. I stopped the audiobook. I wasn’t ready to kick her out of my car.
Through this book, I had traveled with Mary Louise as she interviewed world leaders in Ukraine, Afghanistan and countless international capitals and war zones. I screamed with her as she loudly cheered on her sons at their soccer games she was able to attend. I cried with her when she emotionally detailed the last walk with her ailing father. I’d giggled with her as she detailed the deep connection she maintains with her group of college girlfriends.
So I let it sit for a few days. Then I chose to finish that last chapter while on a solitary walk. I knew that last chapter would contain wisdom, humor and some sage advice. And it did. I belly laughed and cried a few tears. Then I went to my new local bookstore to buy the hard copy of the book (spoiler alert: All Good Books had already sold out of the book, so I had to order one). That’s what I do when I love an audiobook so much that I need to be able to return to the lovely turns of words and mark up the pages with my favorite passages. Then I share the book with friends. In my world, that’s the highest compliment I can pay a book!
In May 2022, Reba Campbell created her summer reading challenge to get off the screen and back to books by reading a book a week. Her accountability was to write a series of Blink Book Reviews of 300ish words so someone could read them in a blink. This is the latest in her occasional ongoing (and sometimes more like two blinks long) series. Join her Blink Book Review Facebook group to get all the reviews and books suggestions from others. Contact Reba at reba@themedwaygroup.com.
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Living on Purpose: Preventing seeds of unforgiveness to germinate
Posted 5/2/23
By Dr. William Holland
How much grace does it take to love our enemies? That’s a good question. Tragedies occur all around us and it’s true we are heartbroken and disturbed, but how do we react when our family is harmed or we are personally offended? I admit that I do not always have the character of Christ when I’m being threatened or provoked to anger. Our natural reaction is to retaliate because that’s a natural part of our carnal nature. Most of us agree that people need to be punished for their evil deeds, but Christians must remember the temptation to hold unforgiveness against anyone must be resisted. Yes, we will face challenges and situations that attempt to lure us into loathing attitudes but, it’s forgiveness and love that keeps us on the narrow way of peace and contentment.
When we dwell on retaliation, our joy which is our spiritual strength evaporates and we become weak and discouraged. The brooding desire for revenge will emotionally, mentally, and spiritually hold us in the bondage of misery. If we allow ourselves to become weighed down with animosity, our relationship with God suffers which is why it’s so important to not become entangled with the poison of hatred. To those around us, we may seem fine, but on the inside, we are seething with contempt. Do you secretly have resentment against someone today? Let us remember this internal agonizing battle is not forced upon us, we decide to participate. Our natural mind loves to justify corrupt attitudes, and if we continue to focus on vengeance instead of asking for God’s help we are allowing the darkness of sin to control and hold us hostage. Sadly, many would rather live in the agony of hostility instead of releasing their agony to God and allowing Him to execute vengeance and justice His way.
As a chaplain, I remember a few years ago being called by a healthcare facility to pray for an elderly gentleman that was near death. He was barely able to understand or communicate because of the heavy doses of morphine. His son was sitting next to the bed and after a while, he started to talk about his dad. They were not close, and he began to describe a man that was not only harsh and uncaring but abusive. I could sense the deep emotional pain as he began to tell a sad story about a disappointed and wounded family. The son was a Christian and had been dealing with resentment for years. As he continued to share about the power of forgiveness, I could sense the love and peace of God in his countenance. If we sincerely repent and ask the Lord to step into our situation, He is the only one who can bring true hope and healing to our hearts and minds.
When watching a toddler, we notice they react to basic experiences of hunger, affection, disappointment, happiness, and anger but are only beginning to learn what it means to be offended. Resentment and bitterness are negative attitudes and it’s only through inviting Christ to become our Lord and allowing His truth to transform our minds that we can be molded into His way of merciful thinking. He wants us to be honest with Him and not suppress these ugly imaginations that not only can build a wall between us and the Lord, it also makes us toxic to those around us. Just how serious is unforgiveness? Matthew 6:14-15 says, “If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.”
Hatred is silent but deadly and is like a growing infection that can desensitize us from having compassion for anyone or anything. Since the Christian’s greatest asset is love, the enemy of our soul will use anything he can to prevent us from forgiving and praying for others. May we never discard our responsibility to humbly serve and obey Christ because we are blinded by our plans to get even with someone. Whatever they have done to hurt us, we have the choice to let it go so that we can live in the joy of God’s presence. Some may boldly declare they cannot forgive but this is not true. Forgiveness is a choice as the Bible reminds us in Proverbs 13:18, “Poverty and shame will come to those who refuse instruction: but they who embrace correction will be honored.
Read more about the Christian life at billyhollandministries.com
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Stuart Neiman Cartoon: Disney Fights Back
Posted 5/2/23
By Stuart Neiman
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Living on Purpose: When A Church Dies
Posted 5/2/23
By Dr. William Holland
Some linger in woods. Some stand, for now, at the end or side of a dirt road. Some hide behind other buildings, and some haunt the edge of hamlets and villages.
Abandoned churches. How does a church die? I know that things change, that people move away, that often an elderly congregation has no youth to replace it and that towns die and an exodus takes place. People leave a church when it’s no longer possible to carry on. I like to think that when that day of dread arrives, a congregation of three or four sings a hymn, prays, and then cries as they shut the door for the last time.
In the past few years I’ve photographed abandoned churches in South Carolina and Georgia, my province of Georgialina. My wanderings have taken me to churches named Friendship in Georgia and Dothan in an extinct South Carolina community known as Morgana. Morgana, say it again. What a beautiful word as in Fata Morgana, a mirage, and what you see here is a kind of mirage, a church that is not a church anymore. You see the shell of a church. A church dies when its congregation is no more.
Some cling to life through the kindness of others such as Barrs Chapel in Edgefield County. I read that services take place there twice a year, once in autumn and at Christmas when a candlelight service takes place. And I’ve stopped by Friendship Baptist Church near Tignall, Georgia. A long steel cable runs from the church to a tree. Best I figure that’s to keep it from falling over.
Many old churches still have pews and a piano. (I heard the beautiful and haunting tale of a forester who taught himself to play a piano in an abandoned church.)
Some churches command me to visit them. On A Sunday in April I drove to Peak, South Carolina. I was on a quest. I sought the St. Simon’s Episcopal Church, but finding it wasn’t easy. The old church hid behind a home and you had to know just where and when to look or you’d miss it. I missed it. Missed it more than once. Flustered I parked near a building to figure out what to do when by a stroke of good luck, I spotted a gentleman and asked him where it was. A pillar of the community, Dr. Carroll Pinner, led me to the church.
Engraved into the church’s cornerstone wreathed in vines is 1900, a cross, and an ear. The old carpenter gothic church still stands. She’s ailing though. Members of the Pinner family, Peak community, and others hope to restore the church but help is needed. More on that to come.
The church is beautiful and historic. It’s had a significant impact on civil rights in South Carolina and has ties to astronaut Maj. Gen. Charles F. Bolden. With the help of a friend of St. Simon’s Church, Buddy Johnson of Little Mountain, I hope to sit down with the Reverend Simon P. Bouie to get details on the church’s history and legacy. Buddy sent me a document that says the church had its beginnings as an African American Episcopal congregation in 1889 under the leadership of Reverend G.E. Howell.
It may be, I’m told, the earliest instance of an integrated school in South Carolina, long before any civil rights movement began. I’ll be returning to this story in a magazine feature where I will be armed with much more information. For now “When A Church Dies” is a sad familiar refrain other inactive and abandoned churches know so well. As Peak’s population declined, attendance at St. Simon’s dropped. By the 1920s regular services were pretty much a thing of the past.
As my Grandmother Walker faced the inevitable, she told me more than once that all her friends were in the ground. That’s how an abandoned church must feel. All its members are in the ground. It falls on others, latecomers, you could say, to step forward and save places of import and charisma. St. Simon’s has both and it deserves to be saved and restored.
Read more about the Christian life at billyhollandministries.com
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Mystery Plant! #720
Posted 5/2/23
By John Nelson
johnbnelson@sc.rr.com
Where exactly is the “enchanted forest” that you sometimes hear about? I’ve come to realize that for me, it was that little patch of woods right next door when I was growing up. But you’ve probably been in an enchanted forest, too.
Enchanted forests come in a wide variety of sizes, and some of the most enchanted examples can be very tiny. All they need is a tree or two, maybe a few shrubs, some ground cover, and perhaps some native wildflowers. Oh yes, a bird passing through helps. So does a frog, or a toad. Of course, grand vistas featuring waterfalls and majestic peaks, along with lots of wildlife and rare plants helps make a great enchanted forest. Again, though: some of the most magically enchanted woods are postage-stamp sized patches of real estate, without an exhaustive list of unusual species present. Of course, part of the enchantment of the forest comes from within our heads: you need to become a part of your forest, even if for just a few moments, listening carefully to its sounds, taking in the smells, and paying attention to what really makes it a place separate from the everyday urbanized existence from which we too often can’t seem to escape. It’s the little things that count, the little aspects of nature that have their own story to tell, and which collectively offer us something unique.
Now here is a little herb that offers a kind of quiet, enchanted magic. It’s a resident of quiet, rich coves in the mountains, growing in the East from southern Ontario down to the mountains of Georgia. The stems arch over a bit, and reveal several oval leaves, each one softly fuzzy, and with three delicate, pale nerves. The flowers are pale greenish-yellow–an odd shade for a flower!–and they tend to dangle. Six tepals are present…technically, there are 3 sepals and 3 petals, but they look so much alike that we can’t really tell them apart. (So we call them “tepals”.) Each flower will eventually produce a smooth, shiny red berry later on in the summer.
This magic little plant is in full bloom now. Imagine the scene as the sun starts going down in a quiet cove: the white pines and hemlocks, farther up on the ridges, give quiet sighs as the light glimmers. In the gathering shade of the yellow poplars and basswood, our little bell-like flowers start to glow with a delicate moonbeam kind of presence, sharing the twinkling herb-scape with trilliums, Jacob’s-ladder, wild phlox, and golden alexanders. Listen carefully for the sleepy wood thrush, and also his shy friend, the nighthawk, starting to wake up. Watch for the first lightning-bugs to start their tentative flights.
But maybe you can’t visit THIS particular enchanted forest. Is there one in your backyard, just for you? Maybe just a small little corner with a few crickets, some late-spring dogwoods and azaleas, and perhaps a twittering swift, or a drowsy thrasher getting ready for sleepy-time. Enchanting
[Answer: : “Yellow mandarin,” Prosartes lanuginosa]
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John Nelson is the retired curator of the Herbarium at the University of South Carolina, in the Department of Biological Sciences. As a public service, the Herbarium offers free plant identifications. For more information, visit www.herbarium.org or email johnbnelson@sc.rr.com.
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