Tag Archives: Frank W

Shooting the Leblanc Exhibit with Dave McNamara

Posted on October 27, 2016 | Leave a comment

I have posted on the  Dudley Leblanc exhibit quite a bit.  Those posts are visible here, here and to some degree here. But yesterday I was in the company of Warren Perrin, Robert Vincent, Roland Leblanc and Dave Mc Namara. Mc Namara is an accomplished television journalist. He was doing this shoot as part of his Heart of Louisiana series.  Robert Vincent was there as the chief benefactor of the exhibits tangible items. Warren and I were there as co-curators of the exhibit among other things.  Also stopping by at the same time was Louise Hunt with her husband Jim.  Mrs. Hunt has just written the book In the Shadow of the Steel Cross.  There are real connections between her story of her Norridgewock indigenous ancestors and the legacy of our Acadian ancestors. She gave me and the museum a copy of her book and swapped books with Warren Perrin. In addition others  who are regulars there, like Sonny Moss came by and a portrait of Perrin was returned. The crowded bustle of the museum was pleasantly normal.

But the star of the show and the center of the even was Roland “Poly” Leblanc who discussed his father and also his whole family’s involvement in his father religious, political and commercial ventures. He talked about working as the chief chemist in the company and about his father distributing statues of St. Therese to Acadian churches of Louisiana — among other things.

HADACOL was once the second largest advertiser in the United States.

I was happy to be there. I then spent some time with family and friends and did needed chores. While I was down in Mobile for the conference address the principal patron of the Acadian Museum —  J. Weldon Granger was crowned King of the Vermilion Parish Cattle Festival.  So it was a nother thing to celebrate among the friends of the museum.

Leave a comment

Posted in 1

Tagged , , , , , , ,

New Horizons and Some Signs

Posted on April 23, 2014 | Leave a comment

This post comes at a time when a lot is going on in the world including the mourning in South Korea over the hundreds of youths drowned on a ferry that went down in the Yellow Sea. I used to look out at the Yellow Sea daily where I lived and worked and my sympathy and empathy are with those people. There is some insight into the depth of this tragedy here. However, I have not mentioned that tragedy before this post in this blog. President Obama will be heading to Asia soon to shore up relations with our treaty partners Japan and South Korea.  those are in North East Asia as is Taiwan. I lived in China and in our other treaty partner in the region — the Philippines. But I have not spent much time in Japan and have never been to Taiwan or South Korea. All of us  who are well informed of my generation see a connection between World War II in the Pacific and the Korean War and then the Vietnam War. As tensions occur in the entire Asian region we must remember the tragedy  of huge and sustained wars in Asia. we must grieve for our world neighbors in South Korea and still remember what it  has been like to losemany ships of young people.

Where the Bohai Sea meets the Yellow Sea and China looks out to Korea.

Where the Bohai Sea meets the Yellow Sea and China looks out to Korea.

I do pray for those involved in that tragedy in a world of so much tragedy. The Malaysian Airlines disaster is yet another tragedy, But the crises brewing in Ukraine and nearby lands may be far greater still. As I look at these events I am also remembering the  events of 150 years ago known as the American Civil War. Several of my posts have mentioned anniversaries of that war. But it is certainly not the only war whose anniversaries are remembered.

The seal of the Confederacy ties the Lost Cause to the Revolution and the past long before that war.

The seal of the Confederacy ties the Lost Cause to the Revolution and the past long before that war.

So many leaders on both sides of the war had been formed in some way by the American – Mexican War and the Confederacy had George Washington on its seal who had been formed in his life and skills in what Americans call the French and Indian War before leading the Continental regulars and colonial militias in the American Revolution and War of Independence.  Struggle does not seem to end and so one struggle prepares its survivors for the next.  That is not all their is to human history and experience but the theme of constant and evolving struggle certainly is a major theme of human experience.

From each crisis and tragedy of the human past we can learn a few things. I think we are obliged to try.  I certainly am formed of all the experiences of my personal history. I am not sure what life may have in store for me but I am sure it will be connected to the rest of my life so far.

Not a very flattering image. A selfie taken a few nights ago.

Not a very flattering image. A selfie taken a few nights ago.

The centennial commemoration of the First World War is starting up around the world. It will continue for the next few years. Some called that war “The War to end all wars”. It certainly did not end all wars and Adolph Hitler was one of the people most affected by the  trials of that war but millions of other would join him in quickly imagining that another war must follow in many of the same lands to resolve issues  that had emerged before, during and after World War One — The Great War. Some call the war that followed The Big One. Most call it the Second World War. I have been writing about the struggle with Islamist terror almost continuously since 2001. I have been caught up in that struggle in a number of ways.

The world is a complicated place and so are the lives of many of us who live in this strange world. This post is going to be largely about what may be on the horizon or just over the horizon of the future. But it is also about how I come to see it in a particular way. I have a picture below of myself with my ex-wife more than  twenty years ago and think of all the seasons that have passed since then for me. I wonder what if any future crises my life has prepared me to face.

 

scan0005-1

It is still the start of the long Catholic Easter Season which goes until Pentecost Sunday. Easter Tuesday, the day after the day that follows what much of the world calls Easter  was a special day for the family.  Easter Monday I bought my Louisiana resident basic fishing license and Louisiana resident saltwater license to go crabbing on the Rockefeller Refuge tomorrow. Crabbing with a string or a small drop net requires no license unless one is on a refuge or wildlife management area. I posted on Facebook that night that I would be going with the family tomorrow and be back online by Tuesday evening. It was later Tuesday evening when I posted on the subject. But my post which is largely subsumed into this one reported good outcomes not mixed with any tragedy.

We had a good time at Rockefeller Refuge. I caught four small crabs. We brought back enough all together from those who also caught (some much more than I ) for me to purge and boil them and everyone had one eating size crab and then I made a stew of the small crabs. I snapped a few pics about nothing in particular although there were particularly nice birds and fish and the crabs and people. (4 photos)

Frank Wynerth Summers III's photo.
Frank Wynerth Summers III's photo.
Frank Wynerth Summers III's photo.
Frank Wynerth Summers III's photo.
 Clearly my life is not caught up in long hours spent in the halls of power. One of the themes of Easter is baptism and evangelism and I have a political view of how things play out on those themes. I do rejoice that Obama talks about Jesus as a Christian would and seems to be a Christian although his father was Muslim. I value his affinity for Islam as a Christian if that is in fact real, Such connections are important to reaching out to evangelize in Muslim countries  and to protecting Christians there. In addition I have real reticence to denying what God may be doing in Barack Hussein Obama’s heart. Had he remained a Senator those themes might have remained my dominant themes. However, in the case of Obama I feel we must consider the possibility of him being a Muslim and a liar as some have accused him of being  even as we have him as our Head of State and US executive.
Russia is squaring off with us in quite few places. You can read about the situation developing in Russia here. Obama is more or less holding his lines in the Russian Crisis. America is meanwhile under strain. The US Supreme Court has recently dealt a blow to the affirmative action which helped to create the environment in which President Obama matured as a human being. You can find one account of the new Supreme Court opinion and analysis of its impact  here.
Nationalism rises in many places in the world, Financial problems abound. Men like Napoleon, Hitler, Stalin, Henry VIII and Washington may all seem very different from one another but all were empowered by crises.  There are many emerging crises just now and those crisis will call forth those who can exploit them.
Hitler rose to power in the Weimar Republic and Mao rose to power in the Chinese  Republic founded by Sun Yat Sen. Those men like Napoleon had the luxury of hitting a new regime still finding its way. Nonetheless each of these men came to power by remaining involved and exercising force in the milieu in which they existed. Putin remembers fondly the Soviet Union and the Communist revolution that replaced the Tsarist Empire directly and slaughtered the Imperial family. Soviet founders paid more for power than many have paid. Russia is often willing to pay a great deal to protect vital interests and that may be important to remember.
In my own life I have written some model constitutions  and done some politicking too. I look out on a future which will be problematic. I see challenges and roots of conflict.  I see lots of reasons to be concerned but I do not believe that we are without hope. One institution for peace is one among many which exist around the world and is a big party I have attended many times.  You can learn about that  institution of soft peace policy here.
Right now I ave little specific to write about or do about many of the challenges facing America and the world. I am almost fifty years old and obscure. My vision for my country is pretty peaceable and moderate for one which still constitutes a a radical proposal. I am tired as I often am and so bring this to post with a few corrections to be made later and a few aspects to be polished. But as I look out at the world I do not feel less inclined to propose that America needs some serious reforms. I will continue to work towards some of those reforms.
In some ways the great hurdle is inside oneself. At some point I have decided that i will work for relatively radical change. That closes many doors as well as opening a few. I have never sought more trouble for my country. Hitler for example labored to bring down the Weimar Republic for decades. Napoleon is famous for firing canons on the crowds running the reign of terror which preceded him in France’s revolutionary journey. But mild as I am I remain alarmed and radical. A bit old and quiet these days, I am more than ever aware of the future which will demand some radical change or other. I still seek more peace and harmony than many other emerging radicals will. The changes I propose remain more respectful of the present institutional climate.

Leave a comment

Posted in 1

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , ,

Second to Last Installment on my People to Watch List

Posted on September 5, 2011 | Leave a comment

I am writing this post as a combined post in my collapsing WordPress Blog and as a Note in my Facebook profile for a series I began near in time to the September 11, 2010 Anniversary. This is the second to last in this series of posts. They are all written (except the first) in a little bit of a snowball-rolling-down-a-slope style with each including much of the information of all the others in some kind of compressed core and adding some new information. That style will be even more pronounced in the end of this series. In February my blog worked very well as an instrument and bundle of software and it also had a good number of regular and occasional readers. Since then it has become alomost impossible for me to work with and often fails when others try to use it as well. It of course has very few readers. However, having promised to add some final touches to this long process I am trying to do so even if it has very limited utility now. There is also the possibility that some of my Facebook readers will get some utility out of this.

In this series I created a list of people to watch in the second decade after the 9-11 indient of September elevnth 2001. It certainly was a day which changed both America and the world far more than most days do change things and attitudes. I did not want to take a narrow view of things directly related to the incident and its aftermath but rather to see that date as one of the large markers and milestones in history and to create a list of people who are likely to make good watching for GOOD or ILL in the coming decade now that we live in this post 9-11 world. I am quite proud of the list itself. The large list of one hundred is much better in its way than the short list of ten finalists can be for many reasons.

However, the list does have flaws and limitations and I want to just touch on some of its most glaring ommissions:

1. The first and greatest omission is a single individual Wen Jiabao, 温家宝. A wiser list would have assumed that Hu Jintao will leave office in the next decade and that Wen will succeed him at the helm of China’s State in the full sense. He is already very influential. With all respect I left him off in the hard choices and so he is not eligible for final list of ten.

2.The second biggest ommission is that there is nobody who is directly a regular member of the Nobel Prize granting committees and nobody recognized primarily for granting these prizes. That is an ommission of significance because the Prizes shap who and what is watched at the world level very much.

3. Athletes were not given as much a piece of the whole as might have been the case.

4. Scions of nonroyal families were slighted. Few were given many points for the role thay play in families which play a significant role and are not royal. There were a number who did get on this list with this as a factor but not many. I do not mean the nuclear family but for example the Kings of Kings Ranch, the Ochs-Sultzbergers of the New York Times, half a dozen Mexican and Brazilian families could possibly have deserved a representative and had an impressive one to offer.

5. Astronauts and cosomonauts could have been more represented and would have been creditable.

6. African Royalty are almost inexcusable absent.

7. Far Eastern and associated Royals are more inexcusably absent.

8. True Outlaws deserved more representation.

9. There were worthy candidates involved in the rebuilding at New York City’s Ground Zero who did not make the list.

Now, the list is what it is and I am proud of it nonetheless. I think that my final ten will however combine the entirely predictable and the entirely shocking choices in the minds of many and this will make it hard for anyone to adopt the final list in the way they could use the larger list as a guide for their own thoughts. I HAVE LESS THAN A WEEK TO PUT OUT MY FINAL LIST OF TEN.
My ten most watchable people in continuity with what they have clearly begun will be:
Benedict XVI, Prince Charles of Wales, Princess Catherine Elizabeth Duchess of Cambridge, Britney Spears, Queen Sofia of Spain, Philip Lord Norton Baron of Louth, Dr. Carl Brasseau, President Barack Hussein Obama, Vladimir Putin and ten Mark Zuckerberg.

The five taken from those already my list of one hundred who are included for potential to break out and make a different mark are:
Myself, Sir Richard Nicholas Branson, Charles Allan Murray, Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales and Vitaly Alexandrovich Lopota.
At least eight and not more than nine of the people on my final list will come from those two short lists above. One or two will come from among the remaining eighty-five names on the basis of reasons not so easily categorized. However, whether a long and more satisfactory post will be possible I am not currently sure. But at least a final list of ten will be posted before the eleventh of September ifat all possible.
The last four of my 100 most watchable in the second post 9/11 decade can be found at this link:

Four People To Watch in the Second Post 9/11 Decade


Ben Shelley, President of the Navajo Nation; Helene Valerie Hayman née Middleweek , Baroness Hayman,
Phyllis Miller Taylor; Robert De Niro, Jr.
My first post on this list appeared in its original version September 11, 2010 and had twenty-five names:
Series Link 1. https://franksummers3ba.wordpress.com/2010/09/15/the-last-year-of-the-9-11-decade-has-begun/
President Barack Hussein Obama , Josef Ratzinger, His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI, Her Britannic Majesty, Elizabeth, HRH Charles Prince of Wales, David Cameron, Sarah Palin, George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush, Glen Beck, Hillary Clinton, President Nicolas Sarkozy, Benjamin Netanyahu, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Carl Svanberg, UN Secretary Ban Ki Moon, Hu Jin Tao, Timothy Geithner, Al Franken, Barney Frank, Vladimir Putin, Bobby Jindal, Bill Richardson, Bill Clinton and Osama Bin Laden
The second portion had fifteen people to watch:
SL 2. https://franksummers3ba.wordpress.com/2010/12/08/fifteen-more-people-to-watch-in-9112011-9112021/
Barons Rothschild, Britney Spears, Carl A. Brasseaux, Philip Lord Norton Baron of Louth, Carlos Slim Helu, Charles Bolden, Taylor Swift, Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson, Kate Middleton, Catherine Princess of Wales, Princess William of Wales, Princess Catherine, Prince Luís of Orléans-Braganza (born Luís Gastão Maria José Pio Miguel Gabriel Rafael Gonzaga de Orléans e Bragança e Wittelsbach, Ms. Gail J. McGovern, Me, His Highness Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani and Prince William of Wales
The third portion of my list had ten people watch:
SL 3. https://franksummers3ba.wordpress.com/2010/12/11/ten-more-people-to-watch-from-9112011-9112021/
Gaudencio Borbon Cardinal Rosales, Queen Sofia of Spain, Su Graciosa Majestad Sofia la Reina Catolica, Oprah Winfrey, Bill O’Reilly, Julie Ann Yannatta, Vitaly Alexandrovich Lopota, Amy Grant, Ratan N. Tata, Mark Zuckerberg and Jean-Cristophe Niel
The fourth portion of my list had five people to watch:
SL 4. https://franksummers3ba.wordpress.com/2010/12/15/five-more-people-to-watch-in-the-second-post-911-decade/
Liu Zhijun: 刘志军, King George Tupou V, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, Heinz-Otto Peitgen, Julie Taymor
The fifth post had thirteen people to watch:
Charles Alan Murray, Henry Louis “Skip” Gates, Jr, Professor Ei-ichi Negishi, Drew Brees, Angela Dorothea Merkel(- Kasner), General Stanley Allen McChrystal, Danica Sue Patrick, Melinda French Gates (born Melinda Ann French, Marilyn Vos Savantt, Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías, Carla Gilberta Bruni Tedeschi, Madame Nicolas Sarkozy, Air Defense Commander Shigeru Iwasaki and Amy Hungerford
SL 5.

Thirteen More People to Watch in the Second Post 9/11 Decade


My sixth post in this series had eight people to watch:
Howard Lutnick, His Serene Highness Albert II, Sovereign Prince of Monaco (Albert Alexandre Louis Pierre Grimaldi), Elbert Leander “Burt” Rutan, Ayatollah Seyed Ali Hoseyni Khāmene’i ( سید علی حسینی خامنه ای), Dr.Tracy E. Caldwell – Dyson(Ph.D.), Lang Lang, Natalie Portman ( נטלי פורטמן‎, Natalie Hershlag), John Christopher “Johnny” Depp II
SL 6.

Eight More People to Watch in the Second Post 9-11 Decade


My seventh post added thirteen more people to watch. In it I also published a final decision to make the list one hundred names long.
Joanne “Jo” Rowling, OBE, J. K. Rowling , Nicholas Sparks, Nicholas Charles Sparks, Maria Ioannidou, Μαρία Ιωαννίδου, Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev, Дми́трий Анато́льевич Медве́дев, Buzz Aldrin, Dr. (Col. {retired})Edwin Eugene Aldrin Jr., Dalai Lama, Zachary Richard, Chett Chiasson, Dr. E. Joseph Savoie, ” ‘Tit Jo’” Savoie
SL 7.

Nine More People to Watch in the Second Post 9/11 Decade


My second to last post had eleven names:
Thomas S. Monson, President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Bill Ford, William Clay Ford, Jr., Michael Fred Phelps, Patriarch Kirill I, or Cyril I Кирилл, Патриарх Московский и всея Руси, born Vladimir Mikhailovich Gundyayev, Владимир Михайлович Гундяев, His Suinine Majesty, Carl XVI Gustaf, Carl Gustaf Folke Hubertus , General David Howell Petraeus, Commander International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and Commander, U.S. Forces Afghanistan (USFOR-A) , Father Adolfo Nicolás Pachón S.J., S.T.D. , The Superior General of the Society of Jesus, Serena Jameka Williams , Shakira, Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll, Letizia Moratti née Letizia Brichetto-Arnabold , Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall,Camilla Rosemary née Shand, previously Parker Bowles

Eleven More People to Watch in the Second Post 9/11 Decade

Some thoughts about the coming era:

This is an era of crtitcal importance for the coming centuries I feel. In all sorts of ways our actions and attitudes are more important than normal. I began the list in the spirit of exploring the future and present we are living with now.

Leave a comment

Tagged , , , , , , , , ,