Newsletter12/06

Its the season of love. It is that one time of the year when the word HOPE means the most. While it is a Christian season, Christmas is intended to celebrate all ideals of peace, brotherhood, and love.

We pray for peace, that all our sons, daughters and loved ones will be home with us soon. We pray for brotherhood, that the senseless violence around the world will end, and that love will give a shining reason for interactions between nations, peoples and ideals.

In addition to the three prayers above, let us pray for our nation. May we, as a people, be able to work together to better all members of society, and end most of the divisions that exist within our republic.

America is the greatest nation on earth. But the greatness is not about power, but rather love and hope. As long as these ideals are preeminent, our greatness will be constant.

It is this time of year that I see so many people being busy, shopping, going to parties, spending time with their families. We just finished Thanksgiving at the Pardue house but a seat at our table was empty. My wife, Stephanie has been in Florida since August taking care of the in-laws who have been very ill. I look forward to our reunion time and our being one again. Looks like we might have to celebrate Thanksgiving twice this year. She should be home sometime between the 1^st and the 5^th of December. Her absence has taught me a lot about how much I depend upon her, of just how empty our table was this year with her being gone. I am thankful for her being part of my life the past 38 years.

Take time to spend quality time with someone you love this Christmas. Take time to reflect on how much you are blessed. But also remember that there are members of NAMC who will be alone this year and could use a note or a phone call, that there are Vets in the nursing homes across this land who have not had a visitor all year. A short visit from you would bring them much happiness. We also have our troops that will be away from home this year, keep them in your thoughts and prayers. God Bless each of you and your families.

Photos taken at the Veterans Day Memorial dedication of the Nathan Martens Memorial. He was a Corpsmen who died in Iraq. 85 Arizona military are listed on the memorial of which 4 were Corpsmen and Medics.

Robert "Nathan" Martens spent hours in San Tan Mountain Regional Park.

His family's property bordered the 11,000-acre park near Queen Creek, so he ran the narrow roads to train for football season. On New Year's Day, the family hiked to the top of one of the peaks in what became an annual tradition.
Now, a stone's throw from where Martens used to hike and run, stands a memorial named in his honor that commemorates the 85 Arizona men and women killed in Afghanistan and Iraq. More than 350 people showed up on Veterans Day for a parade and dedication of the Nathan Martens Arizona Memorial. Nov. 12, 2006 12:00 AM
They clapped and cheered as an F-16 missing man formation roared overhead. Kerry “Doc” Pardue, National Commander of Medics and Corpsmen spoke about medics-corpsmen serving and mentioned all the families being honored there today . They gave Air Force Maj. Bryan Martyn a standing ovation after he reminded them that Americans are great people and that the U.S. is a great country. And they were silent for six minutes as the 85 names were read.
Martens, a Navy corpsman, died Sept. 6, 2005, when the Humvee he was riding in rolled. He had been in Iraq for 10 days. He was 20.
After his death, a Queen Creek group primarily involved in desert cleanup and recycling began a grass-roots effort for a memorial. Alden Rosbrook, founder of the San Tan PRIDE Association, estimates that nearly $100,000 was raised in cash and in-kind donations.
Marten's widow, Erin, who attended the dedication with her young daughter, Riley Jo, said she was overwhelmed.
Several people at Saturday's dedication have lost relatives in Afgha nistan and Iraq.
The family of Marine Cpl. Brandon S. Schuck waited quietly in line after the ceremony to find his name engraved on metal plaques near the base of a 70-foot flagpole. They wore T-shirts with his picture, showing a smiling young man shortly after he arrived in Iraq in 2005. The Safford resident had three weeks left in Iraq when he was killed in an explosion on Feb. 6. He left behind a wife, Megan, and son, Gavin, now 21 months.
For his family, Saturday's dedication was bittersweet. They were glad to have their loved one honored, but the dedication brought the still-fresh pain back to the surface.
"It just broke my heart all over again," Schuck's grandmother Arva Shiflet said.

It gives me great pride and pleasure to introduce Kurt and Linda Johnson. Kurt is a NAMC member who served in the 1^st Inf. Div. in Vietnam as a combat medic. In 1976 they created Johnson’s Pottery and have been making unique creations ever since. I have had the pleasure to visit them at their studios in Ellensburg, Washington and WOW!, they have created a whole new out look on life by working with their hands. If ever you are up that way, stop by and visit with this wonderful couple and their extraordinary, beautiful, masterful works in clay.

Kurt Johnson starts our interview answering: How did you get to this point in your life?

“Johnson”s Pottery officially opened for business in 1976. This was a joint effort between me and my wife Linda. The start of my involvement with clay began in 1974 while I was going to school on the GI Bill after my discharge from the Army in 1970 at Schofield Barracks on Oahu. I moved back to the mainland and settled in the Pacific Northwest. It was here I decided to go to school and get on with my life. At the time the only classes that made any sense to me were art classes. These classes came easy and one semester I found myself in a ceramics class and from then on I was hooked. Years later I was asked why I didn’t continue on with my medical career and the only thing I could think of was; “I had had enough, after about one year of driving ambulance and working the ER at Schofield Barracks.” Also, after doing a tour as a combat medic with the 1^st Infantry Division in Vietnam, I needed to find some peace of mind and solace in my life. Art, or more importantly, working with clay provided this for me.

His lovely partner and wife chimes in; “it has been a journey of self discovery and creation for the both of us, and continues on to bring us to new levels of understanding the art and all its variances.”

As Linda sets at her potter’s wheel wetting her fingers slowly coxing a wonderful bowl out of a clump of clay, Kurt tells me about the difference between traditional and modern fire methods for the clay creations they do. Linda likes to work with many various clay textures and is an avid producer of many useful forms of plates, bowls, lamps, cups, goblets and vases. These are all unique with wonder colors and special glaze effects. Linda fires her pieces in modern kilns either propane fueled or electric. This process takes 12 hours for the 1^st firing to degrees between 1800 and 2400 F., another 12-14 hours on the second firing and three to four days to cool. She markets her wears in many popular art studio outlets and galleries about the country.

Kurt on the other hand has chosen to create with the very labor intensive wood firing method that has its roots back thousands of years. To that end he has built a very large outdoor wood stoked kiln with a complexity of draft ports, control baffles, and tons of special wood. Both methods have their own unique outcomes.

Kurt and Linda figure that between them they have made about 100.000 pieces. Linda averages about 1,800 pieces for commercial distribution a year. Kurt maintains the three hand made kilns and helps with the commercial side of the studio. But when the “season is right” and the mood strikes, the big firing comes to life.

The qualities of wood-fired ceramics are the result from a complex drama involving human intentions, material properties and a factor best known as the life of the fire. Each piece is unique. Its placement in the kiln as it relates to the path of the flame directly affects the finished appearance of the piece. My pots are glazed on the inside to assure a water impervious surface but the exterior finish is mostly the result of the ash that flies in the kiln, lands on the pots and then is melted into a natural ash glaze. This is accomplished by continuous stoking of the kiln, reaching temperatures of 2400 degrees F in 35 hours. No other fuel is used. Each species of wood has its own mineral properties which give color and texture to the pots.

Wood –firing is an extremely labor intensive endeavor. Wood preparation is critical to success plus the long hours of firing make this a labor of love, too intensive for most potters. I have chosen this method of firing as it gives me the palette and serendipitous effects that totally compliment and finish my forms. I have control of the fire and also a great respect for it. Its allure continues to bring me back to this process where I work with the fire, creating a rhythm of stoking and waiting that sends ash and flame through the kiln, leaving the marks of the fire forever on the clay.

So the US government determines that it is against the law for the words “UNDER GOD” to be printed on our money, then so be it.

And that same government decides that the “TEN COMMANDMENTS” are not to be used in or on a government installation, then so be it.

I say, “so be it”, I would like to think that smarter people than I are in positions to makes good decisions. And I would like to think that those people have the American public’s best interest at heart.

Since we can’t pray to God, can’t Trust in God and cannot post His Commandments in government buildings, I don’t believe the government and its employees should participate in Easter and Christmas celebrations which honor the God that our government is eliminating from many facets of American life.

I’d like my mail delivered on Christmas, Good Friday, Thanksgiving, and Easter. After all, it is just another day.

I’d like the US Supreme Court to be in session on Christmas, Good Friday, Thanksgiving and Easter as well as on Sundays. After all it is just another day.

I’d like the Senate and the House of Representatives to not have to worry about getting home for the “Christmas Break” After all it is just another day.

I am thinking that a lot of my taxpayer dollars could be saved, if all government offices and services would work on Christmas, Good Friday, and Easter. There would not be any overtime since those days would be just like any other day of the week to a government that is trying to be “politically correct.” In fact our government should work on Sundays (initially set aside for the worshipping of God….) because, after all, our government says it should be just another day.

These are definitely things I never thought about until “The Law” changed. But, from now on, I will be sure to question those in government who support these changes.

I wonder if this is truly the representation of the majority of the American people. Was it truly the intent of the Founding Fathers of this Great country, who wrote our most respected documents of the land “Under God”?

Food for thought for all Americans I say, regardless of your religious preference, political bend, or minority/majority beliefs.

On 19 November a Sunday at 1900 hours “Doc” Joe Brown was crossing the street to go to church; a speeding car came down the street and hit Doc Brown. He sustained a broken arm and broken foot. He is healing well, doctors did not operate on him because of his heart condition. They are planning to send Joe to a Rehab Unit, but no dates have been set by the doctors. Please keep “Doc” Brown in your prayers.

I live in a rural area. We recently had a new neighbor call the local township roads department to request the removal of a DEER CROSSING sign on our highway. The reason: “too many deer are being hit by cars out here! I don’t think this is a good place for them to cross anymore.” They had just arrived from Seattle.

My daughter went to a local Taco Bell and ordered a taco. She asked the person behind the counter for “minimal lettuce”. He said he was sorry, but they only had iceberg.

I was at the airport, checking in at the gate when a TSA employee asked, “has any one put anything in your baggage without our knowledge?” To which I replied, “If it was without my knowledge, how would I know?” He smiled knowingly and nodded, “That’s why we ask.”

The stoplight on the corner buzzes when it is safe to cross the street. A common enough thing in most cities. An intellectually challenged lady was crossing the street with a coworker when she asked what the buzzer was for. IT was explained that it signals blind people when the light is red. The appalled lady responded. “What on earth are blind people doing driving?!” She was a probation officer in Wichita, Kansas.

At a good-bye luncheon for a long and loyal employee that was leaving due to “downsizing. ”One mid-level office manager commented cheerfully, “this is fun… WE should do this more often.” Not another word was spoken. The other guests just looked at each other with that deer in the headlights stare. This was a brunch at Texas Instruments.

A fellow employee relates that an individual plugged her power strip back into itself and for the sake of her own life, couldn’t understand why her computer system would not turn on. This was a deputy with the Dallas County Sheriffs Office no less.

A couple arrived at an automotive dealership to pick up their car. They were told that the keys had been accidentally locked in the car They went to the service department and found a mechanic feverishly working to unlock the driver’s side door. As they watched from the passenger side, the husband instinctively tried the door handle and discovered that it was unlocked. “Hey,” he announced to the mechanic, “its open!” The mechanic replied, I know-I already got that side.” This was at a FORD Dealership in Canton, Ohio.

The Travel Log: Starting on the next issue. January 2007, we will feature this part of out newsletter. If you have been some place interesting, let us know.

As always the news letter crew are looking for articles about YOU! We also invite comments, articles, pictures and notes to the editor, Send to the editor “Doc” Calef at: skowhegon@aol.com.

We at NAMC wish an inner peace be with all our Brothers and Sisters over this holiday season. Always remember the fallen and their loved ones that were left behind. Pass a kind word and a warm hand to those in need. Be “Doc’s helping Doc’s.”